RonPrice
Mannikin
The now famous Bahá'í hanging gardens with its terraces, expanse of gardens and classically styled buildings as well as the Shrine of the Báb which harmonizes eastern and western proportions and style are often called by Israelis "The Eighth Wonder of the World."1
When I was at the Bahá'í World Centre in Haifa Israel in April-May 2009 where these hanging gardens are situated the most common bird on these terraces and in these gardens was the raven. At least that was the tentative conclusion of my son who has taken more than a little interest in birds during his adult life and during his two years of working in Israel. He has lived only a five minute walk from these hanging gardens and worked in its environs. -Ron Price with thanks to 1Wikipedia which lists many sites which have been given the terminological distinction “8th wonder of the world.”
Some consider the poem, The Raven, to be the most famous poem ever written. The poem, written by Edgar Allen Poe, quickly became a cultural phenomenon after it was completed by its author some time in 1844 and published in January 1845. It is not my intention to summarize the content of this poem as it develops through its many stanzas; nor is it my intention to focus on the poem’s style, rhyme, rhythm, phrasing or what led to the writing of the poem. I do draw, though, on some of the meanings given to it by readers in the last 164 years. Readers can read of the many meanings given to the poem with a little investigation on the internet in these days of the world-wide-web. Initially, I found the poem difficult to understand. This is a common experience many have in reading poetry.
My intention in writing this prose-poem is to give a special focus to this work of Poe’s, a focus of meaning giving to it a relationship with the Babi-Bahá'í Revelations.-Ron Price, Pioneering Over Four Epochs, 4 June 2009.
Something happened in 1844, when
Poe was finishing his The Raven,
which revolutionized the planet and
signalized the start of a spectacular, a
tragic and the most eventful period in
the first Bahá'í century, unique in the
whole range of humanity’s religious
experience. Edgar Poe wrote a poem
The Raven and, for my money, this bird-
the raven is symbolic of the Báb.
In the poem The Raven is perched
on the bust of Pallas, a symbol of
wisdom and a symbol of the poem’s
narrator. The setting is December, a
month in which are afoot the forces
of darkness. The Raven, said Poe,
symbolized mournful, never-ending
remembrance.1 The poem’s theme
is undying devotion.2 The bird’s role
can be said to be as a messenger.3
An angel seems to have entered the room—
the poem4 refers to the death of a most
beauteous creature, a most poetical topic
in the world-in this case the coming death
of the most wondrous creation the world
had yet seen; the Báb and, soon, to be---
Bahá'u'lláh—whose intimations were of a
maiden as if in His prison-Siyah-Chal dream.
1 See Kenneth Silverman, Edgar Allan Poe: Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance, Harper Perennial, N.Y., 1991.
2 Kay Cornelius, “Biography of Edgar Allen Poe,” in Bloom’s BioCritiques: Edgar Allen Poe, Harold Bloom, ed., Philadelphia, Chelsea House Publishers, 2002, p.21.
3 John F. Adams, “Classical Raven Lore and Poe’s Raven,” in Poe Studies, Vol.V, No.2, December 1972, p.53.
4 Abraham Lincoln memerized Poe’s poem, The Raven.
Ron Price
4 June 2009
Posted at the Nightmare Network
on: 4 October 2010
When I was at the Bahá'í World Centre in Haifa Israel in April-May 2009 where these hanging gardens are situated the most common bird on these terraces and in these gardens was the raven. At least that was the tentative conclusion of my son who has taken more than a little interest in birds during his adult life and during his two years of working in Israel. He has lived only a five minute walk from these hanging gardens and worked in its environs. -Ron Price with thanks to 1Wikipedia which lists many sites which have been given the terminological distinction “8th wonder of the world.”
Some consider the poem, The Raven, to be the most famous poem ever written. The poem, written by Edgar Allen Poe, quickly became a cultural phenomenon after it was completed by its author some time in 1844 and published in January 1845. It is not my intention to summarize the content of this poem as it develops through its many stanzas; nor is it my intention to focus on the poem’s style, rhyme, rhythm, phrasing or what led to the writing of the poem. I do draw, though, on some of the meanings given to it by readers in the last 164 years. Readers can read of the many meanings given to the poem with a little investigation on the internet in these days of the world-wide-web. Initially, I found the poem difficult to understand. This is a common experience many have in reading poetry.
My intention in writing this prose-poem is to give a special focus to this work of Poe’s, a focus of meaning giving to it a relationship with the Babi-Bahá'í Revelations.-Ron Price, Pioneering Over Four Epochs, 4 June 2009.
Something happened in 1844, when
Poe was finishing his The Raven,
which revolutionized the planet and
signalized the start of a spectacular, a
tragic and the most eventful period in
the first Bahá'í century, unique in the
whole range of humanity’s religious
experience. Edgar Poe wrote a poem
The Raven and, for my money, this bird-
the raven is symbolic of the Báb.
In the poem The Raven is perched
on the bust of Pallas, a symbol of
wisdom and a symbol of the poem’s
narrator. The setting is December, a
month in which are afoot the forces
of darkness. The Raven, said Poe,
symbolized mournful, never-ending
remembrance.1 The poem’s theme
is undying devotion.2 The bird’s role
can be said to be as a messenger.3
An angel seems to have entered the room—
the poem4 refers to the death of a most
beauteous creature, a most poetical topic
in the world-in this case the coming death
of the most wondrous creation the world
had yet seen; the Báb and, soon, to be---
Bahá'u'lláh—whose intimations were of a
maiden as if in His prison-Siyah-Chal dream.
1 See Kenneth Silverman, Edgar Allan Poe: Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance, Harper Perennial, N.Y., 1991.
2 Kay Cornelius, “Biography of Edgar Allen Poe,” in Bloom’s BioCritiques: Edgar Allen Poe, Harold Bloom, ed., Philadelphia, Chelsea House Publishers, 2002, p.21.
3 John F. Adams, “Classical Raven Lore and Poe’s Raven,” in Poe Studies, Vol.V, No.2, December 1972, p.53.
4 Abraham Lincoln memerized Poe’s poem, The Raven.
Ron Price
4 June 2009
Posted at the Nightmare Network
on: 4 October 2010
Last edited:
