"Now my cursor still is blinking"

Edgar Allen Poe’s poem “The Raven” was first published in 1845. The haunting tale of lost love features a talking raven that endlessly repeats the word “Nevermore”. The poem’s story and structure have influenced countless other artists, including countless parodies in the computing field.

The poem famously begins:

Which sounds like the time anyone has stayed up late, trying to finish an essay, assignment, or lab.

And in the 1980s, any smart computer user made sure to save their work, and save it often. There was no cloud either: everything was saved to floppy disks. And a corrupt disk was always a possibility, so smart users kept backups. Even backups of backups.

But anyone using a PC would eventually come to dread a particular disk error message: Abort, Retry, Ignore. It usually meant something was wrong with the disk, and everything could be lost!

Thus inspired, a handful of witty poets explored the depths of humour, emotion, technological futility, and horror by replacing Poe's taking Raven's "Nevermore" with a blinking screen and the dreaded message "Abort, Retry, Ignore".

Here's our favourite version, by Marcus Bales.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over user guides and handbooks piled up on the desk and floor --
As I nodded, after nine or ten straight hours of design,
I finely drew the final line, then pulled a floppy out to store --
Locked and loaded, then, I saved, and waited for the disc to store;
Only this and nothing more.

Ah, distinctly I kept hearing such a sound it set me fearing,
Fearing as I sat there peering at the Saved Percentage score,
Fearing, as the disc kept turning, turning with a grinding, churning
Sound while I was yearning -- yearning as I'd never yearned before,
"Save!" I yearned again, but hopeless, read the words I'd feared before:
Read: "Abort, Retry, Ignore."

...

Now my cursor still is blinking; is it winking? Yes! It’s winking! --
Winking at me from the screen beside the disc that wouldn’t store;
Winking at me from the black, though nothing else comes blinking back
Along the phosphorescent track that throws a shadow on the floor;
And my art, from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be found now -- nevermore!