Read this passage from “The Raven.” What is the best paraphrase of what happens in these two stanzas?
And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
“Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door—
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;—
This it is and nothing more.”
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
“Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you”—here I opened wide the door;—
Darkness there and nothing more.
The speaker is terrified by the rustling of the curtain. He tries to convince himself it is nothing to be afraid of. He gathers his courage and opens the door, but nobody is there.
A person comes to the speaker’s door, but the speaker does not want to answer the knocking. The visitor goes away and then the speaker opens the door.
The raven wakes up the speaker and then the speaker opens the door and invites the raven to come in.
The speaker tries to remove the raven from the window by shaking his curtains. The raven flies in and sits on the door. The speaker then begins talking to the raven.