The 3:57 by William E. Spear

THE RAVEN

By Edgar Allan Poe

Release date: 21 October 2023

Start excerpted transcript:

(The Raven Intro and Outro comes on)

Hello and welcome to The 3:57. I am the host, William E. Spear.

This episode contains a grieving heart - not to be confused with a tell-tale heart - and avian anxiety that first flew in the middle of the nineteenth century.

Edgar Allan Poe published THE RAVEN in 1845. Immediately, his "lost Lenore" and feathered fear induced "dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before" that continue to this day.

And now, quoth the host, THE RAVEN.

(Interior Theme for The Raven comes up and goes under)

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."

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

Eagerly I wished the morrow;- vainly I had sought to borrow

From my books surcease of sorrow- sorrow for the lost Lenore-

For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore-

Nameless here for evermore.

[Theme for Lenore comes up and under]

And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain

Thrilled me- filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;

So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,

"'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door-

Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;-

This it is, and nothing more."

End of excerpt.