I want to thank Sheila Kline for the impetus for this poem. Knowing her love for large cats, I suggested she read William Blake\'s \"The Tyger\". This was a hit with her, and before I knew it she was writing a poem in tribute to Blake\'s work. So we started working on this piece together. Thanks, Sheila!

Now to the question of Manyantlers, yes, my friend, there is a constellation called the raven (or the crow) it is Corvus, a small constellation in the southern sky, that includes 11 stars visible to the naked eye. The Greek mythology is that once the crow had white feathers and the ability to speak, Apollo punished the raven for reporting that Apollo\'s pregnant lover had fallen out of love with him and was in love with another. In his anger Apollo changed the raven\'s feathers to black and removed his ability to speak.

A few comments on Lilmikee\'s Review:

Thank you for your review and kind words.

We have few comments on the points you raise. First on the line \"Mask, you, secrets there from Man\", yes, the question of punctuation in poetry is always thorny. One battles between leaving the punctuation out entirely, putting some of it in, and putting it all in. We have taken a middle ground. The commas around the word \"you\" are required for correct punctuation. However it is common practice to read lines such as this in poetry without the pauses. Our alternative, of course, is to leave the punctuation out entirely and then there is no issue with pauses. However then the punctation is incorrect, but this is normally ignored in poetry, especially if you leave all punctuation out. So as pointed out before, the correct punctuation is put in, but the line is meant to be read without pauses. We are taking a \"middle-ground\" position.

Next on the line \"Whether sent to Heav\'n or Fire\", you correctly point out that we deliberately dropped a letter to preserve the meter, and we certainly did. You say, however, that \"I feel it comes out even more awkward as the reader has to consciously drop the second syllable\". Yes, this is true, but that is common practice, especially with pieces of Blake\'s era. Perhaps you are familiar with poetry from this period and you have already mentioned that you had not read Blake before. Indeed, the use of \"Heav\'n\" might be considered another nod in honor of Blake since he used this quite a bit himself as in his poem \"An Imitation of Spenser\"--see the abstracted segment form this poem below.

An Imitation of Spenser -- Wlliam Blake

\"...And thou, Mercurius, that with wingèd brow
Dost mount aloft into the yielding sky,
And thro\' Heav\'n\'s halls thy airy flight dost throw,\"

So you can see the dropping of leters and strong contraction (as in thro\') are quite common in pieces of this era. And we have followed this style throughout. There is another example in our poem in the second line: \"Lost in Shadow, hid’ from sight\", where we strongly contract \"hidden\" as hid\'.

Thank you for reviewing \"The Raven\" and caring enough to provide detailed comments.

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Traditional poetry still exists!

What a great collaboration, one can't see the joins at all, at all and that's a true 'union of minds'. With its deep dark plumage and seemingly evil eyes, the raven is seen as the winged devil incarnate.

Blake's poetry and paintings portray near terror and symbol, they personify the spirit in torment and fear.. you've followed the example with amazing care.

wever, the sight of a raven has been both a portent and a blessing in the UK. In your poem as in many others, the bird signals the worst, but in the Tower of London a few ravens are protected as they have been for years. The saying is that when they leave (they can't, their wings are clipped) the tower and consequently, the country will fall.

The following really rings the bell with me, but, I must say your style throughout reflects the ancient belief of good and bad amongst the creature world .. ' Galaxies will cease to turn ~ Ere for Man's soul you cease to yearn ~ Tell, did Dark One with His ~ Hate ~ Create you midst His spawn with Fate? '

Blake must be smiling in his grave.

Posted 2 Months Ago