Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visiter," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more."
la-la-la-la-la
Daria and Jason met in the library to prepare their presentation. Jason had booked a study room ahead of time. They each brought a copy of the poem, which they took it in turns reading from. Once they were done, they exchanged their thoughts.
"Well, that was depressing"
"If only the narrator had thought to visit a shrink":
"Or a bar"
"Or an opium den"
"Or an undertaker"
Daria blinked hard, and took a few more moments to reply
"Excuse me" she said, after a moment
"I said.."
"I heard what you said, what I don't get is why"
"Dark humour is a tried and tested way of dealing with dark thoughts"
"I know the poem is dark, but.."
"No, I mean my own dark thoughts"
"What do you mean?" Daria asked, lifting her glasses, and rubbing the bridge of her nose
"Well, when I was nine, my mom took her own life, and since then, I've often thought about joining her"
Daria took a moment to absorb this information, after which his earlier remark made a lot more sense.
"And you joke about it in order to cope?" Daria realised
"You do the same thing, right?"
This actually annoyed Daria
"But I'm not depressed or suicidal. Why do people keep thinking I am? Do I give off dark and gloomy vibes?"
"Not really, I just meant you also use humour as a coping mechanism"
"I suppose so"
"Also, while you find cynicism comforting and it helps you to make sense of the world, most people associate it with despair and disappointment"
"How very observant of you" Daria was mildly impressed, which coming from her was high praise
la-la-la-la-la
They ended up creating a digital slideshow, which incorporated a number of screen shots from The Simpsons' Tree-house of Horror episode to feature The Raven.
The first half of the presentation, which was narrated by Daria, discussed the history and structure of the poem, when it was first published, its length, metre, tone and briefly touched on its prequel poem, Lenore.
The second half, which Jason presented, discussed its themes, such as grief, loss, depression, the dark side of imagination, and its symbolism, the significance of Ravens in various cultures (usually death).
At the end, they opened the floor to questions.
"It it true what the Simpsons said about it?" One student asked
"And what was that?"
"That people were easier to scare in the past?"
"Daria, would you care to field that one?"
"Well, I'd have to say yes, if only because this was before film, and therefore before jump scares. "What do you think Jason?"
"I think fears are different across different cultures and change over time. What is scary to one time or culture may not be scary in another. But fear is fear, so I'd have to say no"
"Was Poe himself a widower?" Another student asked
"Yes, but not at the time he wrote this" Daria stated succinctly
There were no more questions after that.
"Well done, you may return to your seats." the professor said, stoically
At this point in the semester, they realised that this professor didn't give out praise lightly, so this was quite a compliment.
La-la-la-la-la
After class, Jason approached Daria
"Can we walk and talk?" he asked
"I guess" she said halfheartedly
"I just wanted to say that I've enjoyed spending time with you recently"
"Same here" to the untrained ear, it may have sounded sarcastic, but Jason was able to see through it
"And I was hoping to continue spending time with you"
"I'd like that too"
"Well, the fact that you didn't run away screaming when I opened up to you about my mom told me that"
There was an awkward silence.
"What I'm trying to say is, would you like to grab a pizza together sometime?"
"You mean as friends, or..." Daria more or less knew what the answer was going to be, and she was just stalling
"No"
Daria was clearly distracted, and struggled to focus on the issue at hand. Once again, her instincts were telling her something was off.
"Its okay of you don't want to" he said, guessing she was trying to let him down easily
"No, its just that, I really don't know what to say. I wasn't exactly expecting this. Give me a moment to think about it"
They continued walking and talking until they reached her dorm room. This managed to buy her enough time to come up with an answer.
"Give me some time to think about it"
"Alright" he said, with zero pressure or guilt in his tone "see you in class"
"Bye"
Jessica had spotted the two of them in the slightly open doorway.
"Who was that?" she asked
"None of your business" Daria replied frankly.