Customer Reviews

The Raven and Other Favorite Poems (Dover Thrift Editions)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The Raven is an awesome poem and one that will be used by teachers for decades to come for students to ponder over.

I gave this 4 stars because I couldn't go lower since it did include the poem; eventually. This freebie has about 70% of someones very indepth thoughts and the rest is the poem. If you need it broken down and have someone elses thoughts included, then this is for you. But if you're just looking for the poem itself..pass.

I wanted to reread The Raven and so downloaded this book. The good news is it does have the entire poem--which I read and enjoyed. The bad news is I had to page through 66% of the manuscript (to location 271) to find it. The first two thirds is a commentary which I cannot fairly review as I did not read it. Finally after the poem are a number of poorly formatted pages with mostly just numbers and snippets of the poem. All in all a very poor edition of a very great work.

There are a few other free editions available, I plan to delete this one and try the others.

This is totally worthless. It consists of various verses of the poem, followed by a person's name (presumably the person who downloaded the verse). Then, for example, the next verse is not even included. Then the third. Then a portion of the fourth. Etc. (I memorized the poem in high school, so I recognize missing portions thereof.) After the "poem" (in snippets), is a lengthy analysis of the poem, then an analysis of poetry in general, then poor analyses of other poems, etc.--all of which is totally useless and confusing.

If you want the poem in its entirety for free, look it up on the computer, where there are many versions of the poem available. But, for God's sake, do not read this and expect to find the poem in an intelligible form.

AVOID!!

In my 5th grade class, we are reading about Edgar Allan Poe. I remembered that I had this book, so I sat in front of my fire and started to read. Poe dazzels me with wonderous fears, thought, and imagery. If you like scary stories, Poe will touch your heart with his magical words.

I was first hooked on literature in high school, having before that been strictly a reader of sci-fi and horror. I was wonderfully surprised to discover Poe's tales and poems, not only because they catered to my love of the dark and disturbed, but because they were something altogether different from what I'd been reading! This book contains the poem that Poe is most favorite for and one of my long time faves, the Raven. But it also contains a wonderful assortment of other poems so that you get the full range of Poe's literary ability in one slim little book! Whoever put teen angst in such beautiful terms; "From childhood's hour I have not been/as others were..." If you're looking for a cheap version with a good cross section of his poetry, this is most definitely the book to pick up.

The Dover Thrift Edition of "The Raven and Other Favorite Poems," by Edgar Allan Poe, is a fine collection of work from one of the most remarkable figures in American literature. The poems in this volume demonstrate Poe's total mastery of poetic effects: rhyme, meter, alliteration, etc. He is inventive and versatile in his use of different poetic structures. The many allusions mark this as the work of a truly brainy poet.

But it's not just his skill and intelligence that are characteristic of Poe. He is also a poet of deeply felt passions. This collection shows his appreciation of love and beauty, as well as his concern with loss and tragedy.

I'll just mention a few of the selections that struck me most. "Sonnet--To Science": brilliantly expresses the tension between scientific and mythopoetic worldviews. "The Coliseum": a thrilling exploration of the power of ancient ruins. "The Haunted Palace": the rich language contributes to its fairy-tale like flavor. "To My Mother": an achingly tender tribute to the speaker's mother-in-law. "Annabel Lee": a hauntingly beautiful, yet disturbingly creepy poem of love and loss. And of course, the unforgettable title poem.

Dive into Poe's poetry and you enter a realm haunted by both angels and demons--a world of sorrow and joy, of terror and intoxicating beauty.

I was loking for a free edition of the raven and I got disappointed. You see I had studied the raven in school and found that this edition was inaccurate. It had missing parts! Entire missing parts! If you want to read the raven I would pull it up on the internet. But wahatever you do avoid this edition at all costs.

What can I say of "The Raven" that has not been said? Beauty and sadness, grief and romance...

Lamenting the loss of a gentle but passionate woman, the narrator drinks, yet somberly dwells on her name. A local raven, with the capacity to utter like a parrot a syllable or two, repeats "Lenore," and "Nevermore." The narrator, tired and broken, believes the raven might be sent by God or even by the Devil, and tries talking with it.

The poem, like an long tale, draws the listener or reader to be in that lonely room.

Anyone who has ever been in love and lost that lover will known Poe's pain and supplication of god.

I fully recommend this book.

Anthony Trendl

I love "The Raven" and I'm not so much rating the poem as I am the format. The format, for me at least, makes it harder to read. But that's the only issue I have with it.

I know this is free but PLEASE!! I downloaded this for kindle and FINALLY got to the poem. It has just started and I am 78% through the document. I just wanted to read an old favorite, not someone's thoughts and feelings about it. Of course the actual poem is terrific as always.