ABOUT THIS WORK
'Quoth the Raven' is a retelling of one of Poe's best known works, 'The Raven'. Told from the perspective of our narrator, the poem traces the mental demise of a lonely man, isolated with his somber thoughts in his dark chambers. At the beginning, the instrumental accompaniment only offers a bed of sound for the narrator to rest his thoughts, but after the first stanza, the pulse of the piece quickens into a lively compound meter with the clarinet, representing our narrator, taking the lead. The narrator, believing that he hears someone tapping at his chamber doors, goes to investigate the source of the sound.
Pining for his lost love Lenore, he thinks he hears her name whispered outside, and steps outside into the night to see nothing but the wind. It is here, when our narrator is lamenting over Lenore, do we hear the music relax, dipping into a subdued mood before the narrator is made increasingly mad over the presence of an unwanted raven in his chamber. Upon opening a window in his chambers, a stately Raven enters, marking the beginning of the end for our narrator. Saying only 'Nevermore' the raven continues to push the narrator into inevitable madness until the chilling poem concludes.
