Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spo

ken,

"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 !""

But the Raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smi

ling,

Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust, and door :

Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to link

ing

Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of

yore

What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird

of yore,

Meant in croaking "Nevermore.'

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing To the fowl, whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's

core;

This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease

reclining

On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamplight gloated

o'er,

But whose velvet violet lining with the lamplight gloating

o'er

She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an

unseen censer

Swung by Seraphim, whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted

floor.

"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee-by these angels He hath sent thee

Respite-respite and nepenthe from thy memories of LENORE!

Quaff, oh, quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost LENORE!"

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore.”

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!-prophet still, if bird

or devil!

Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,

Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchantedOn this home by Horror haunted-tell me truly, I imploreIs there is there balm in Gilead?-tell me tell me, I implore !"

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!-prophet still, if bird or devil!

By that Heaven that bends above us by that God we both adore

Tell this soul with sorrow laden, if, within the distant

Aidenn,

It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name

LENORE

Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name

LENORE ?"

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting

"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore !

Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!

Leave

my loneliness unbroken!-quit the bust above my door!

Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting, On the pallid bust of PALLAS, just above my chamber

door;

And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,

And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;

And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor

Shall be lifted-nevermore!

ANNABEL LEE.

T was many and many a year ago,

IT

In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden 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 high-born kinsman came,
And bore her away
from me,

To shut her up in a sepulchre

In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not 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 her sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

THE BELLS.

1.

EAR the sledges with the bells—

HEAR

Silver bells!

What a world of merriment their melody foretells!

How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight—

Keeping time, time, time,

In a sort of Runic rhyme,

To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,

Bells, bells, bells

From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

II.

Hear the mellow wedding bells—
Golden bells!

What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!

Through the balmy air of night

How they ring out their delight!