12 Facts About The Raven

1.

The Raven thinks for a moment in silence, and his mind wanders back to his lost Lenore.

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2.

The Raven thinks the air grows denser and feels the presence of angels, and wonders if God is sending him a sign that he is to forget Lenore.

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3.

The Raven is reading in the late night hours from "many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore".

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4.

The Raven decided on a raven, which he considered "equally capable of speech" as a parrot, because it matched the intended tone of the poem.

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5.

The Raven was inspired by Grip, the raven in Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty by Charles Dickens.

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6.

Immediate success of "The Raven" prompted Wiley and Putnam to publish a collection of Poe's prose called Tales in June 1845; it was his first book in five years.

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7.

Notably, in 1858 "The Raven" appeared in a British Poe anthology with illustrations by John Tenniel, the Alice in Wonderland illustrator .

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8.

Many 20th-century artists and contemporary illustrators created artworks and illustrations based on "The Raven", including Edmund Dulac, Istvan Orosz, and Ryan Price.

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9.

Poe capitalized on the success of "The Raven" by following it up with his essay "The Philosophy of Composition", in which he detailed the poem's creation.

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10.

The Raven explains that every component of the poem is based on logic: the raven enters the chamber to avoid a storm, and its perch on a pallid white bust was to create visual contrast against the dark black bird.

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11.

In part due to its dual printing, "The Raven" made Edgar Allan Poe a household name almost immediately, and turned Poe into a national celebrity.

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12.

Mantel of the room in which Poe penned "The Raven" was removed and donated to Columbia University before the demolition of the Brennan Farmhouse.

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