Page:The Raven; with literary and historical commentary.djvu/42

 28 as this same lady records, Poe one evening electrified the company assembled at the house of an accomplished poetess in Waverley Place—where a weekly meeting of artists and men of letters was held—by the recitation, at the request of his hostess, of the wonderful poem.

Poe's reading of The Raven is stated by many who heard him to have been a wonderful elocutionary triumph: after his notorious recitation of Al Aaraaf at the Boston Lyceum, he complied with a request to recite his most popular poem, and repeated it, says one who was present, with thrilling effect. "It was something well worth treasuring in memory," is the testimony of this authority, corroborated by the evidence of many others.

A copy of the poem was sent to Mrs. Browning (then Miss Barrett), apparently by R. H. Horne, for writing to him soon after its appearance, the poetess says:

"As to The Raven, tell me what you shall say about it! There is certainly a power—but it does not appear to me the natural expression of a sane intellect in whatever mood; and I think that this should be specified in the title of the poem. There is a fantasticalness about the 'Sir or Madam,' and things of the sort which is ludicrous, unless there is a specified insanity to justify the straws. Probably he—the author—intended it to be read in the poem, and he ought to have intended it. The rhythm acts excellently upon the imagination, and the 'nevermore' has a solemn chime with it. Don't get me into a scrape. The 'pokerishness' (just gods!