(A salute to Poe’s greatest and most popular poem. It is pretty automatic to mention the words “heaven”, “dream”, and “nevermore” when responding to this poem. Regardless of the substance abuse problems the poet had, one is always struck by the dreamy and nightmarish qualities to his work, both in his poems and short stories. In this poem, I tried to capture Poe’s state of mind emerging from this poem, “Annabel Lee”, and others. I also tried to capture the sound of Poe’s poems: its rhymes, rhythms, and repetitions; these connoting his circular frustrations and built-in psychological traps.
I will just add that Dore’s illustrations are effective in teaching the poem to a high school English class, as is a good reading aloud of the poem; Basil Rathbone’s reading is quite appropriately haunted and haunting.
In fact, this Poe audio collection is a must-have for serious Poe fans. Arguably, his best work is brought to life.