The Raven (excerpt)

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 named Lenore --
Nameless here for evermore.
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,"

-Edgar Allen Poe

Possibly my favorite poem of all time, The Raven creates an excellent rhythm that is easy to follow while reading. The rhyming inside each line has a certain flow to it that makes each line just as significant to the last. The cacophonus sounds are what really stand out when reading through the poem. Most of the poem has a euphonious rhythm, but words like quaint, dying, and embers stand out so much more than rapping, rustling and dreary. The dactyl meter also creates the rhythm that the tapping upon his door might represent. With the language used, the reader also feels compelled to speed up in the reading as the poem grows toward its climactic moment.