This was shared with me by the coolest girl in Utah, Lisa Poce — a selection from Gustave Dore’s 1884 illustrations of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.” I’m guessing the waiflike girl beside him is the specter of the lost Lenore?
See the link below at openculture.com for more info on Dore’s original steel engravings:
Gustave Doré’s Splendid Illustrations of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” (1884)
So I’m quoting classic 80’s comic books to friends yesterday, because that is precisely what a healthy, well rounded 41-year-old does.
I googled a page-shot for Bruce Wayne’s iconic “Yes, Father,” pledge, and it FINALLY occurred to me that Frank Miller’s “Batman: Year One” contains a parallel to Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.”
The bat flies through the window and perches on Thomas Wayne’s bust; the raven flies through the window to perch on the “pallid bust of Pallas.”
If memory serves, I first read “Year One” in 1992. And I just got that.
Celebrate National Poetry Month -- here is another poem
I remember fondly from my grade school days -- Edgar
Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee."
"Annabel Lee"
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
Thank you, Poetry Lovers’ Page.
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 