Week 4 – The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

Welcome to 2024!  Last year on Mondays we had fun with books. This year, we'll look at most of the same books but also some new ones, and see if the first line [or first paragraph] met the goal of a first line which is ==> to hook the reader's attention.

Here are some tips on writing a first line

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/tips-for-writing-the-opening-line-of-your-novel

Week 4 – The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

You can read it here

https://poestories.com/read/raven

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48860/the-raven

First published: January 1845

Here's what the story is about: This poem, for which Poe received a payment of $9, was published by the New York Evening Mirror and then by The American Review. While the poem’s narrator is mourning the death of his beloved Lenore, a raven enters the room and perches on a bust of Pallas. The narrator asks the raven questions, but its only response is “nevermore”.

First line/paragraph:
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.”

This poem starts with the time [midnight], some of the setting [bedroom], a bit of character [pondering, nodding/sleepy], and the beginning of plot [tapping on the door]. We also have the POV [first person], and a bit of the narrative voice and flavor of the story [somber, dreary].

The words and tempo of the poem adds to the dreary atmosphere, and we have the beginning of the character and plot in the first line. The end [which obviously we don't know yet] circles back to this beginning of “nothing more” and “nevermore”.

Does this first line/paragraph hook your attention? If you had never heard of this story, would you buy this story in 2024? Knowing the story, would you change the first line? Tell us in the comments!