The Raven - by Edgar Allen Poe

Free US/UK Kindle Classic

This is the time of year we turn to contemplative spooky literature and what better warm up than Edgar Allen Poe's epic poem of tortured lost love, The Raven? (US Edition)  (UK Edition)

The American author had an unhappy life.  He was orphaned early, later disinherited by the family who took him in, and had mixed success in making a living as a writer.  The Raven was very popular, but he had sold the rights for $9.00.  The poem is probably inspired by the early death of his young wife.  Poe didn't live a long life himself.  Per Wikipedia: " On October 7, 1849, at age 40, Poe died in Baltimore; the cause of his death is unknown and has been variously attributed to alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other agents."  Whew . . . 

His grave is a rendezvous for the romantic, the despondent and students from the nearby University of Maryland.

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.

May all your ghosts rest easy this Halloween!

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