Written by Francis Heaney
The given "poem" consists of 36 words that each appear only once in Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven, and then the instruction "Look ahead!". Follow this instruction; for each word, find the word following it in The Raven:
Denser -> PERFUMED
Desert -> LAND
Gaunt -> AND
unseen -> CENSER
countenance -> IT
hear -> DISCOURSE
Reply -> SO
Horror -> HAUNTED
Fiery -> EYES
black -> PLUME
answer -> LITTLE
Head -> AT
distinctly -> I
lifted -> NEVERMORE
violet -> LINING
desolate -> YET
Meaning -> LITTLE
lonely -> ON
Ancient -> RAVEN
dying -> EMBER
air -> GREW
Land -> ENCHANTED
merely -> THIS
discourse -> SO
Thou -> I
forgotten -> LORE
syllable -> EXPRESSING
Such -> NAME
purple -> CURTAIN
being -> EVER
louder -> THAN
once -> UPON
Wandering -> FROM
further -> THEN
Mortals -> EVER
doubting -> DREAMING
The initial letters of the words thus obtained spell out PLACID SHE PLAINLY LORE GET SILENCE TUFTED, each of which is again a word that appears exactly once in The Raven. We "look ahead" again, but this time we advance from each word by the number of letters in that word:
6th word after PLACID =
WORD
3rd word after SHE = AH
7th word after PLAINLY = RELEVANCY
4th word after LORE = NEARLY
3rd word after GET = INTO
7th word after SILENCE = NO
6th word after TUFTED = GOD
The initial letters of the words thus obtained spell out the solution word, WARNING.