Hank Green reads 'The Raven'

Hank Green reads a quintessential Halloween poem, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe.

Hank Green:

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[nerdfightercommenter]

Last time I read it I was a freshman in high school and I had absolutely no idea of what it was about. Now hearing it I was so incredibly moved so thanks guys.

[JT-wfou]

It always did sting how he asked the raven questions about heaven and the only reply was nevermore.
He was looking for any kind of conformation that Lenore was well and without pain in heaven and the raven had no such confirmation to give.

[UltimateKyuubiFox]

The most powerful part of this poem, from what I’ve noticed here, is that the speaker _knows_ what the answer will be. And he asks the questions he would want answers to be “yes” to, because, more than comfort, he wants to hurt himself. He wants to hear the Nevermore. He wants the raven to spite him. He could ask questions where Nevermore’d be kind, where the answer would give hope, but by the end he chooses all the questions where hearing it just hurts him and he asks them just to hear the worst conclusion he can think of. That’s grief.

[Dwumper]

It's strange to see Hank here. His reading is great, it's just weird to hear the usually energetic Hank read this really depressing poem.

[firefly-fez]

Hank! It is a delight to see you here, but I did not expect to see you engage as enthusiastically as this in a channel about poetry. The short poem section of Dear Hank and John really changed my perspective on poetry, and helped me see the beauty in it where previously it mostly just confused me - I guess it did for you too! This is such a beautiful poem too, a harrowing and honest depiction of the never-ending nature of grief. Just when you think you're rid of it, some stupid trigger brings everything back - a song, a memory, a poem, a smell - and grief comes knocking at your door all over again. I love this poem, Hank. Thanks for reading it to me.

[genicadelara]

I'm a common people. When I see Hank, I click.

[lorenabpv]

I never expected Hank here, and yet, this fits

[obrien]

i haven’t read poe since middle school so i always dismissed this poem as some creepy dude seeing a creepy bird. when hank finally explained the poem is about grief it all hit me what this poem actually is.
so, thank you

[miriambloom]

Pizzamas truly brings us the greatest and most unexpected of gifts

[Ngamotu]

Quoth the raven: "Eat my shorts."

[siksparnis]

i like the little word-order mistakes, like when he says 'this is it' instead of 'this it is' or 'I said' instead of 'said I'.. have heard this happen in many renditions, and struggled myself with these archaisms when learning the poem by heart :D

[rusted_ursa]

A couple of those phrases come _perilously_ close to your fake British accent, Hank. ;-)

[_nafura_]

"I have that book"
I feel like having these poems read gives me a better visual picture

[ramyakrishnajayanthi]

Who would have thought we would hear Poe in Hank's voice.. thankyou Ours Poetica

[elenaj]

viewing this in the context of grief makes a lot of sense. I was part of a horror production based on Poe's works, but even viewing the raven as a harbinger of death or retribution or even chaos doesn't fit as well as the original intent of the poem. Grief stays with you, perched on the symbol of war and hardship, even when you scream at it, even when you try to reason with it, even when you weep and allow yourself to feel it. It stays.

[fryingpan]

I never noticed before how you can hear the speaker going through the stages of grief. I think he stops at depression though, and doesn't quite make it to acceptance

[girlfan]

I remember when he posted a reading of this on Tumblr a few years ago and that reading really helped me out with the rough time I was having. Even though it's the same poem this version reminded me of fifth grade and my teacher who had us read lots of Poe. Grief is a weird thing, the older I get the sadder this poem seems.

[_mels_]

I think I only heard this poem as a small excerpt and I definitely never read it in full in English. But this was truly a delight. I feel like I have to relisten to it, sitting somewhere dark and quiet to get more into the mood.

[spriddlez]

I've never read this poem in full and never knew it was about grief. But here I am tearing up. Thank you for sharing this with us.

(p.s. ... Did we hear a little bit of Hank's fake British accent at the beginning there?)

[fromscratchauntybindy]

Can Michael Aranda read a poem too, bet his delivery would be next level voice candy 😊