NOTES AND QUESTIONS For Biography, see page 92. Note. In his essay "The Philosophy of Composition" Poe gives an interesting account of the steps he followed in writing "The Raven." Discussion. 1. Do you think this poem was written to tell a story or to give expression to feeling? 2. Tell the incidents of the story contained in the poem. 3. What does the poet say he had hoped to find in his books that December night? 4. What sound aroused him? 5. What reasons can you give for the terror which seized him at the sound? 6. Why does the raven seem to bring more gloom and sorrow into the room? 7. What do you think the "never flitting" raven symbolizes or represents? 8. What other poems have you read that show Poe's love of the mysterious and terrible? 9. Have you ever enjoyed reading something you could not understand? Did you enjoy it because your imagination was excited or because you liked the sound of the words? 10. Read stanzas of this poem that you like although you cannot explain them. Can you tell why you like them? 11. Find examples of alliteration in the poem. 12. Find words that give or suggest the sound described. 13. What lines in the first stanza rime? What are the end words of these lines? 14. What lines in the second stanza rime? What are the end words of these lines? 15. Study each stanza to find the lines that rime and the end words in each. 16. What have you learned about these end words? 17. What rime do you find in the first line of the first stanza? In the third line? 18. Find a word in the fourth line that rimes with the last word in the third line. 19. Study each stanza in this way to find the rimes in the lines. 20. Find in the Glossary the meaning of: surcease; beguiling; craven; divining; censer; Aidenn. 21. Pronounce: obeisance; decorum; placid; ominous; respite. 22. Class reading: “Annabel Lee," Poe. little relevancy bore, 143, 22 stock and store, 144, 8 Phrases one burden bore, 144, 10 15 ROBIN HOOD'S DEATH When Robin Hood and Little John, Went o'er yon bank of broom, Said Robin Hood bold to Little John, "We have shot for many a pound, Hey, down, a down, a down. "But I am not able to shoot one shot more; My broad arrows will not flee; But I have a cousin lives down below; Please God, she will bleed me." Now Robin he is to fair Kirkley gone, As fast as he can win; But before he came there, as we do hear, And when that he came to fair Kirkley-hall, But none was so ready as his cousin herself 10 15 20 25 30 "Will you please to sit down, cousin Robin," she said, "And drink some beer with me?" "No, I will neither eat nor drink, Till I am blooded by thee." "Well, I have a room, cousin Robin," she said, "Which you did never see, And if you please to walk therein, You blooded by me shall be." She took him by the lily-white hand, She blooded him in a vein of the arm, He then bethought him of a casement there, He was so weak he could not leap, He could not get him down. He then bethought him of his bugle-horn, And blew out weak blasts three. Then Little John, when hearing him, "I fear my master is now near dead, Then Little John to fair Kirkley is gone, As fast as he can dree; These words they readily granted him, Which did bold Robin please; And there they buried bold Robin Hood, NOTES AND QUESTIONS Historical Note. The old folk ballads, of which this one is an excellent example, have all come down to us from the far-off past. Such ballads are not the work of any one author, but like the stories of King Arthur, were preserved mainly in the memories of men. Some of them were sung or recited to the music of the harp or lute by minstrels who wandered from village to village, and from castle to castle, entertaining their hearers in return for food and lodging; or by the bards and minstrels who were maintained by kings and nobles to entertain them and to celebrate their deeds and honors. Often they were made by the people, not by professional singers, and were expressions of the folk love of adventure. Indeed, the best definition of a popular, or folk, ballad is that it is "a tale telling itself in song." This means that a ballad always tells a story; that it has no known author, having been composed by several people or by a community and then handed down orally, not in writing, from generation to generation; and finally, that it is sung, not recited. In this way such folk ballads as "Sir Patrick Spens" and "Robin Hood's Death and Burial," were transmitted for generations, in different versions, before they were written down and became a part of what we call literature, that is, something written. When the invention of the printing press made it possible to put these old ballads into permanent form, they were collected from the recitations of old men and women who knew them, and printed. Thus they have become a precious literary possession, telling us something of the life, the history, and the standards, superstitions, and beliefs of distant times, and thrilling us with their stirring stories. The beauty of these old ballads lies in the stories they tell, and in their directness and simplicity. They are almost wholly without literary ornament; their language is the language of the people, not of the court. Many modern poets have written stories in verse which are also called ballads. Some are in imitation of the old ballads, using the old ballad meter and riming system, and employing old-fashioned words and expressions, to add to the effect. Other modern ballads are simple narratives in verseshort stories dealing with stirring subjects, with battle, adventure, etc. But while the true old ballad holds the attention upon the story only, the modern ballads often introduce descriptions of the characters. At the time Britain was conquered and overrun by the Normans, the English archers excelled those of all other nations in the use of the long bow. Very severe forest laws were introduced by the Normans, and soon many |