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 someone gently rapping – rapping at my chamber door.
The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe
*****
Today I’m working on a translation of a story in which a raven stands guard in a widow’s window, terrifying passers-by. As I search for the right words to interpret the story, the lines of Poe’s The Raven go round and round in my head.
Gustave Doré created the image in my header. It’s his interpretation of Poe’s lines.
This and more of Doré’s illustrations for The Raven are available here.