133: The Raven

The Raven

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Title text: Yes, Eminem is wearing a sleeveless hoodie. What of it?

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Description

This comic is a take on the ambiguousity of the word "rapping".

The title of the comic (and indeed the cited poem) is a reference to horror writer Edgar Allan Poe's book "The Raven". "Eminem" in the image text is a reference to the rapper Eminem, best known for his alter ego and 1999's record "The Slim Shady LP". Which explains the punchline: where the poem recites rapping as "to knock", Eminem would be rapping by "speaking or chanting rhyming lyrics".

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Discussion

Date is definitely incorrect. Could someone fix that? Rikthoff (talk) 19:49, 3 August 2012 (UTC)

I must admit curiosity as to how you equated "rapping on a door" with "rape". "Rapping" as used in the poem means exactly what it says; to tap on the door. Electric doorbells didn't exist in the 1800s and people would announce their presence at your door by knocking (rapping) on it. It has nothing to do with rape. 68.144.4.120 (talk) 12:42, 14 August 2012 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Agreed, and fixed. The original posting made the incorrect association of rapping (to knock or strike) with rape (originally to sieze or carry away, in addition to its more contemporary meaning) which was incorrectly described as "too force open"... but that's the nature of wikis: we all can post, and we all can correct. Thanks for pointing it out. -- IronyChef (talk) 14:26, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

Should it be mentioned that the actual poem says "as of someone gently rapping" rather than "as if"? -- 141.101.104.25 22:33, 21 February 2015 (UTC)

I was about to say the same thing. A rare, uncorrected Randall error probably bears comment. 108.162.237.175

Added to Trivia. Yfmcpxpj (talk) 10:44, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

Is there any possible connection between the fact that in the original it was a raven, and now it's a white rapper, instead of a black one? 108.162.218.118 05:17, 12 May 2016 (UTC)

Should have been "as of someone gently rapping." Koro Neil (talk) 21:17, 27 December 2018 (UTC)

Added to Trivia. Yfmcpxpj (talk) 10:44, 3 December 2019 (UTC)

Can someone explain the difference? "as of" seems if not ungrammatic, then at least old grammar-like to me... 162.158.103.26 12:27, 13 March 2025 (UTC)

Archaic/poetic as the language may be, in both cases, I'd say there's a subtle difference of interpretation/feeling. The "<foo> as if <bar>" of the comic suggests a different kind of facsimile than the "<foo> as of <bar>". "What we experienced was reminiscent of this other thing; as if that had happened instead", vs "What we experienced may well have had its origin in the other thing; of which, it definitely seemed as if it was".

That said, EAP's original was clearly a simile when it says the raven's tapping is "as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door". So it really is just a minor misquote of note, a misremembered rote. 172.70.163.166 15:07, 13 March 2025 (UTC)
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