Edgar Allan Poe's Birthday and Other Madness

Of course today we are honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life. Another cause for celebration is the fact that January 19, 1809, was Poe's birthday! I told my daughter Diana that today is Poe's birthday, and she said, "The Teletubby?" Well, no, not that Po.

My father used to recite random bits of poetry to us when we were little, and one of the things he used to recite was a section of "The Raven." When Diana was little, in the grocery store I would say, "'Twas a-----, Nevermore!" and she'd excitedly scream, "Raisin!" She wasn't old enough to be acquainted with ravens. When she said that, I always envisioned one of those California animated raisins from the eighties knocking on the chamber door.

Enough of this madness.

Here's the first stanza of "The Raven":

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 visiter," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door —
Only this and nothing more."