Page:Edgar Allan Poe - how to know him.djvu/241

 THE POET 221 �The Raven embodies not remorse but the universal protest of the soul against the denial of immortality. As Poe sometimes celebrates beauty via decay, so here he celebrates faith via doubt. For the other side of the shield, see I Corinthians 15. That Poe believed in the immortality of the soul is evident from many assertions made during his lifetime and especially from the final and victorious affirmation of Eureka'. see pages 68, 72. Turn also to The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion (pages 305-312), The Colloquy of Monos and Una (pages 320-333), and The Power of Words (pages 333, 339), in each of which the dead lovers are happily re-united in the other world. For The Raven in prospect and retrospect, read again De- fects in the Technique of Barnaby Rudge (page 140) and The Technique of the Raven (pages 173-190). You will find an interesting analogy to the ascending questions put by the lover in The Raven but nothing more than an analogy in the two famous ballads, Lord Randal and Edward.} �Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and �weary, �Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a �tapping, �As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. " 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber �door �Only this and nothing more." �Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December ; And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the �floor. Eagerly I wished the morrow ; vainly I had sought to �borrow From my books surcease of sorrow sorrow for the lost �Lenore For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name �Lenore �Nameless here for evermore. ��� �