Janet and "The Raven"

My friend, and now cousin by marriage, came to visit the other day.  Long before I met Barry, I knew Janet.  Janet and I went to Piedmont College in Demorest, Georgia together and both majored in English. 

This story is about the summer class we needed in order to graduate.  We had four students who met in the office of the professor.  No air conditioners were turned on back in the summer of 1978 and opened windows were a welcomed relief even it was warm air that circulated.  Thankfully we had the class in the mornings so it was cooler than the afternoon classes.  Okay, I have digressed.

Back to Janet.  The class was southern literature and if any of you are familiar with southern literature you know you study Edgar Allan Poe.  We read Poe stories and of course the famous "The Raven" poem.  Dr. Hodge was giving the poem his best.  After he read the serious and spooky poem, it was time to discuss it.  Janet was very serious when she asked the question, "Have you ever heard a bird speak?  A raven wouldn't be saying 'Never more' like you just read it."  Dr. Hodge ask her how she thinks the bird would or should have said it.  Janet, in her best parrot voice, began saying, "never more, never more, never more." 

Imagine a bird and how quickly they say the phrases they have been taught.  Take a minute and in your best parrot voice say the phrase "never more, never more, never more."  See, it totally loses the meaning Poe wanted to convey in his serious and spooky poem.

Years later I found myself teaching the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Yes, you guessed it.  I could hear Janet and her bird voice saying the phrase over and over again and yes, I just had to tell my students about Janet's serious discussion of "The Raven."

Oh well, one must find fun in education and Janet certainly found it in "The Raven."  I think some of the students I taught after that will always remember Edgar Allan Poe's poem too, maybe not in the way educators would like, but hey, they will remember.

It is me again, Lord, thanking you for allowing us to find humor in our daily life.

A little Georgia Wisdom:  When writing a serious poem, it might not be best to have a bird do the talking.