[bannie]

My question is about the third line of the 8th verse of "The Raven"...

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
`Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven.
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore -
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

WHY would a trimmed plume indicate cowardice?
I wondered of there was some custom among the Ancient Romans and their helmet plumes which might explain this line, but I really have no idea.

If someone in The Wonderful World of Freepers has some knowledge and time to share--and if Our Fearless Leader will forgive my abuse of band width--I would surely appreciate it. I have an ENQUIRING MIND.

(My granddaughters are here, so I might not be on the 'puter much this evening...I hope that's not faux pas-ish of me!)

[GOP_Party_Animal]

My guess: Heads were shaved to shame people like traitors or adulterers. A shaved head is a symbol of shame then.

[Thrownatbirth]

art sure no craven.

Art Modell brought the Ravens to Baltimore, if that's any help.

[BipolarBob]

The plumage among birds makes one sexually attractive to the opposite sex. It is a calling card. So it may symbolize emasculation.

[kinoxi]

I've seen cockatiels raise their crests when they attempt to fear or intimidate other animals or people.

[GSlob]

Sometimes poets [even the good ones] are reduced to using filler lines. They come up with a few really good ones, and then use filler material of lower quality around them.

[T. P. Pole]

I did a google search on "the raven annotated." Here's an interesting one. It says "sometimes cowardly knights had their heads shaved, which explains the narrator's link of shaven crest to no craven."

Here's another that mentions knights.

You should be able to find more with a search like this.

[kingu]

When we dissected The Raven long ago in school, the thought was that it was the man, speaking to the Raven on this line, and ravens have no crest, like other birds, but it's lack of one does not indicate that the raven is craven, like a shaved head might.

Least that's vaguely what I recall. It was..um.. 25 years ago.

[jeddavis]

The thing with crows and ravens is kind of like the thing with the shrine and masons, i.e. you have to be a crow for several years before they'll let you be a raven.

[Blind Eye Jones]

Hair may also indicate strength as in the case of Samson from the Bible. But the Romans also knew that if the enemy grabbed your hair he can subdue you and, therefore, they had their soldiers cut their hair short. The line following with "Plutonian shore" looks more like Poe was suggesting a Roman reference rather than Christian. The bird is also a sinister or menacing figure perhaps coming up from the pagan underworld where Christian imagery of fallen strength doesn't directly apply, but maybe indirectly. An interesting twist: Roman strengthen, but fallen from a Christian perspective.

[Swordmaker]

My thinking is that it may refer to the feather an Indian brave earns by showing bravery. Native American males who did not show bravery were not entitled to wear a feather. Nor were they entitled to wear their hair in the manner of men, instead required to wear it in the manner of a woman. Such men were used as servants by all other braves and were ridiculed for lack of manliness and were considered cowards.

The Raven, not displaying the upright plumage "crest" of Cardinals, Woodpeckers, etc., could be said to be "shorn" which means "cut short" and "shaven". This makes it a double play on words, referring back to the "sad fancy into smiling" with amusement.