Welcome. I'm very glad you decided to view this portion of the site because there are some points I would like to make in regard to Poe, his poem "The Raven," and this web site. If interested, I have reserved my personal comments for the final paragraphs of this section, which I hope you read. It contains information regarding my credentials and why I created this site.
 

I.   Edgar Allan Poe's "Philosophy of Composition"
        In wanting to further ones education on "The Raven", I would highly recommend reading Poe's "The Philosophy of Composition," which gives a detailed account, in Poe's own words, of how and why the poem was created. This ingenious composition was created after "The Raven" was penned and was (first?) published in Graham's Magazine in April, 1846.
(Philosophy of Composition)
 

II. Poem Details (details researched herein "Bibliography 1")
          It should be mentioned that the copy of "The Raven" provided in this site is from Poe's final draft. It is important to know that, prior to this final draft, "The Raven" had been published through various newspapers containing altogether different verses within his stanzas. So it is possible, even probable, that you will come across other variants of this poem.  Take for example these revised lines from stanza 11: (the underlined passages illustrate the changes made by Poe.)

        Stanza 11 (2nd revision reprinted in the American Whig Review - February 1845)
            Wondering at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
         'Doubtless,' said I, 'what it utters is its only stock and store
         Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
         Followed fast and followed faster -- so, when Hope he would adjure,
         Stern Despair returned, instead of the sweet Hope he dared adjure -
         That sad answer, "Nevermore!" '

        Stanza 11 (3rd revision reprinted in the N.Y. Tribune on February 4, 1845)
           Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
         'Doubtless,' said I, 'what it utters is its only stock and store
         Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
         Followed fast and followed faster till his song one burden bore,
         'Never -- oh Nevermore!'
 

        Stanza 11 (First publication from N.Y. Evening Mirror January 29, 1845)
           Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken, ,
         "Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store
         Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
         Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore -
         Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
         Of 'Never - nevermore.' "

III. Web Page Details
           The web pages herein are color coded. The Lavender color that appears on this page represents links that are found on the main page.  Dark Grey colored pages are sub links of the main page links that pertain to footnotes and definitions. Light Grey colored pages refer you to additional information pages  and Pink  colored pages represent the editor's (that's me) personal opinions. Any other colored pages you come across means I probably screwed up so please email me. As a side note, I would just like to mention that I linked all my personal opinions to separate pages (the pink pages) for the reason that sometimes people are only interested in facts and not commentaries. I do hope you read them however because I feel that they offer some bit of insight to their respective passages.
 

IV. Editor's Personal Notes:
         I would just like to reinforce the point that this web site is for informational purposes and all sources are documented via accompanying hyperlinked citations so that you may recheck the facts yourself if you so desire. The reference material shouldn't be very hard to come by and can be found in just about any library or book store. This is a completely non profit site and my only wish is to provide detailed and accurate information to my readers. I am going to try and keep this site as advertisement free as possible and will keep all "special" HTML tags to a minimum so as to provide to you with the quickest loading time possible. The only request I have of my reader's is that you notify me if you find that any of the information provided is inaccurate. When submitting such claims, please, if at all possible, tell me where you got the information from so that I may acquire and review the data for a future update.
    Credentials: I think it pertinent that I mention to you that, although I do hold a degree, I am neither a literary scholar nor do I hold any type of degree that pertains to the literary arts. I am however the top ranking graduate of the police academy I attended and also hold a college degree in an altogether different field. Currently I am continuing my efforts to obtain yet another degree, although I am deliberating whether it will be in the Criminal Investigations field or Graphic Arts. Also worth mentioning, I suppose, is that I have taken many literary courses of which I had proudly managed to get all A's in. The reason I mention all this is not to be vain but to hopefully win your confidence that I do have both a genuine interest in this as well as having some knowledge of the literary arts. My apologies to you if it seems otherwise.
    I have an acute fondness for "The Raven" and so I devote this site to both Poe and poem in hopes to share my interest and perhaps learn a bit more from my readers.
    Miscellaneous Rambling: As far as poems go, I personally think "The Raven" is a spectacular display of ingenuity. It is a well thought out assemblage of words put together like a puzzle, cleverly using iambic verse with both catalectic and acatalectic repetition without the risk of being monotonous.
    Goal: One last comment I would like to make is that I would like this site to be a hub for Poe and Raven enthusiasts. I will read all email and post all pertinent comments and questions that pertain to the subject matter. I do this to make this site as non spam as possible. All  This, of course, doesn't mean we can't have fun. I love humor just as much as the next person but what I would really like is to make sure there isn't excessive profanity or off topic discussions which may impede the intellectual goals of our forum. So send me your questions and comments and they will be posted promptly (yes, this does mean I don't know how to create a forum in case you were wondering. Although I did get the HTML programming text for it... talk about confusing!)

All comments and suggestions are welcome and I look forward to hearing from all of you.

Sincerely,
Greg