[Julie Steiner]

I don't understand what "Instead of a raven" is doing syntactically. None of the ways I try to paraphrase that stanza make sense:

     I, instead of a raven, would be the one to merit the curse of nightingales trilling disdain for my verse.

     Instead of meriting a raven, I would merit the curse of nightingales trilling disdain for my verse.

     I would merit the curse of nightingales trilling disdain for my verse, instead of trilling a raven.

Do you need that stanza, and the extraneous raven? For me, the crow is enough. I'd suggest cutting that stanza.