In "The Raven", by Edgar Allen Poe what do you think this stanza means?

Question

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor;
Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had sought to follow;
From my books surcease of sorrow-sorrow for the lost Lenore-
For the rare and radiant madien whom the angels name Lenore-
Nameless here and evermore

thanks for the help

Answer 1

hes remembering a day in december when he was sitting near the fireplace watching the embers die out on his floor and he looked at his books and was reminded of a woman named lenore, who either was a past lover who left him recently, or died. and she wont be coming around ever again.

Answer 2

I remember clearly when it happened. It was in December, which is a depressing month.
The fire was dying (this would suggest it's nighttime).
wrought=made, so wrought its ghost=died

I wished it was the next day (daytime).

The poster above is right: vainly I had sought to borrow from my books surcease of sorrow

I tried reading to distract me from my sorrow, but it didn't help.
vainly=uselessly
sought=tried
surcease=end

What I was sad about was Lenore. She was one in a million, just beautiful. She's dead. (living with the angels, no one here on earth has to call her anything anymore)

What's tricky with The Raven is that he really really wants to keep the rhyme scheme and rhythm, so a lot of the sentences are in a weird order. Use the punctuation to figure out what goes together: NOT the lines.

Answer 3

You have to realize that Poe was a deeply disturbed man. He lost a brother, a wife and his mother all within a year so he was obsessed with death.
He is sitting by a fire watching the embers die. He is obviously depressed over the death of Lenore. I am not sure if she was a lover but she was definitely loved. Lenore could have been a lover for he calls her a maiden. Implying that she was not married. He is trying not to think about her by reading but his books remind him. So he is desparately hoping for the light of day.

Answer 4

The man knew a woman named Lenore. She is dead now, and he believes this raven can tell him more about her. This is what these stanzas mean: "You seem like a prophet to me, you can tell me what I need to know. I don't know if you're a bird or a devil. I don't know if you were sent here by evil, to add to my pain, or if you came here by chance. Ever since Lenore died, this place has felt like an empty, harsh desert, a place haunted by horror. Tell me, is there any healing, any end to my sadness?" and the Raven answers: "Nevermore." The man continues in stanza 17: "You seem like a prophet to me. I still don't know whether you are a bird or a Devil. But by heaven, by God, my soul is filled with sorrow. Tell me if, in some distant point in time, I will see that saint, that rare and radiant Maiden named Lenore?" and again the raven answers: "Nevermore." The raven's one word answer can mean at least two different things, either "you will never find any answer to you're questions, no matter how hard you look, you will never know." or "no, you will never see her again." I think it's one of those poems that is supposed to be open to speculation on what it really means.

Answer 5

I think you have a wrod wrong by the way...isn't it vainly I had sought to BORROW, from my books surcease of sorrow?
Anyway, the other answer is fine.
This stanza HAS been interpreted by some more off-beat poets to suggest that Poe had a very large penis.

Answer 6

The poet is sitting near a coal fire and as the fire is dying out he remisses over the memory of a beautiful girl called Lenore who has passed away

Answer 7

It's a dark Dec. day, the fire has burned to embers and he wishes he could find --in his books-- some relief from the sorrow he is feeling for a lost love--Leonore--who is either dead or long gone and not returning into his life.

Answer 8

it means that his mind wanders last december thinking about her lost love, lenore. books represents his memory with his girl. ghost represents that his girl had died. he said he'll always cherish lenore.

Answer 9

I tend to agree with the first answer...

A tidbit, however, is that Poe's mother died in December.

Just a tidbit, though. =)

Answer 10

The author is trying every means that come to mind to forget the memory of his deceased loved one. It seems clearly evident to me.

Wotan