Once upon a midnight dreary, As I sat there tired and weary
Flipping through my English textbook of American Literature
As I sat there simply pondering, As my mind was curiously wandering
A sudden thought of irksome terror made me fall upon the floor
This English class I’m nigh to flunking, then I’d have to take it o’er
Read more Hawthorne, Never More

So I sat there readin’, slavin’, O’er that poem by Poe the Raven
So I could write up a journal as the few I’d done before
As I read those words confusing, wondering how he did the choosing
Of such odd and unusual words like Placid and Lenore,
Words like Aiden and Nepenthe, words like Quoff and Bird or Yore
Peculiar words, and nothing more

I read his poem through to the end but I just could not comprehend
I wracked my brains and pulled my hair till I could think no more
I could not grasp his train of though, His use of words confusion wrought
It filled my mind with madness, as I’d never felt before
So I hurled that cursed book right out the open chamber door
I will read Poe, Never More