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Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, |
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Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, |
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While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, |
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As of someone gently rapping, tapping at my chamber door. |
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\"'Tis some visitor,\" I muttered, \"tapping at my chamber door- |
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Only this, and nothing more.\" |
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Ah, distinctly I remember it was in a bleak December, |
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And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. |
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Eagerly I wished the morrow;- vainly I had sought to borrow |
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From my books surcease of sorrow- sorrow for the lost Lenore- |
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For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore- |
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Nameless here for evermore. |
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And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain |
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Thrilled me- filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before; |
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Presently to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating, |
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\"'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door- |
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Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;- |
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Merely this, and nothing more.\" |
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Out into the darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, |
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Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before; |
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But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token, |
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And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, \"Lenore!\" |
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This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, \"Lenore!\"- |
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Merely this, and nothing more. |
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Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning, |
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Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before. |
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\"Surely,\" said I, \"surely that is someone at my window lattice: |
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Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore- |
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Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore, |
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'Tis the wind and nothing more.\" |
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Open wide I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, |
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In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore; |
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Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he; |
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But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door- |
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Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door- |
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Perched, and sat, and nothing more. |
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Soon that ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling, |
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By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore. |
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\"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,\" I said, \"art sure no craven, |
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Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering on the Nightly shore- |
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Tell me what thy lordly name is on this Night's Plutonian shore!\" |
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Quoth the Raven, \"Nevermore.\" |
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Now the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only |
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That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour. |
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Nothing further then he uttered- not a feather then he fluttered- |
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Till I scarcely more than muttered, \"other friends have gone before- |
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On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.\" |
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Quoth the Raven, \"Nevermore.\" |
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Then methought the air grew denser, perfumed by an unseen censer |
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Swung by Seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor. |
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Once more on the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking |
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Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore- |
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What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore |
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Meant in croaking \"Nevermore.\" |
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\"Prophet!\" said I, \"thing of evil!- prophet still, if bird or devil!- |
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Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore, |
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Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert isle enchanted- |
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On this home by horror haunted- tell me truly, I implore- |
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Is there- is there balm in Gilead?- tell me- tell me, I implore!\" |
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Quoth the Raven, \"Nevermore.\" |
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\"Prophet!\" said I, \"thing of evil- prophet still, if bird or devil! |
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By that Heaven stretched above us- by that God we both adore- |
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Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, |
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It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore- |
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Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.\" |
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Quoth the Raven, \"Nevermore.\" |
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\"Be that word our sign in parting, bird or fiend,\" I shrieked, upstarting- |
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\"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore! |
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Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken! |
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Leave my loneliness unbroken!- quit the bust above my door! |
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Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!\" |
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Quoth the Raven, \"Nevermore.\" |
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Now the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting |
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On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; |
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And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, |
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And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; |
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And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor |
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Will be lifted- nevermore! |