The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe

 Edgar Allan Poe  

(Boston, January 19, 1809 – Baltimore, October 7, 1849)  was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. He is best known for his poetry and short stories, exploring the darker side of the Romantic imagination, dealing with the Grotesque, the supernatural, and the horrifying.  Poe was considered to be the inventor of the detective fiction genre, as well as a significant contributor to the emerging genre of science fiction. He is the first well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career. 

His parents traveled from one acting job to another.  He was abandoned  
by his father when he was one; his mother died a year later.  Poe became the 
foster child of a wealthy couple in Virginia, named Allan, who provided Edgar 
with a sophisticated upbringing, including private schools and travel. 

Poe was a good student, but left the University of Virginia for lack of money
due to gambling debts, and moved to Boston. He enlisted in the army in 1927 and anonymously published a collection of poems.  He then went to West  Point (military academy) but failed, thus making the decision to be a poet and writer.

Working for various journals and periodicals, he became known for his
own style of literary criticism. 

At the age of 27 (1836), he married his 13-year-old-cousin, Virginia Clemms, who died of tuberculosis in 1847.  They had no children. [Virgina was the daughter of Edgar's father's sister.]

In January, 1845, Poe published The Raven, an instant success. 
He had hoped to start his own journal, but passed away at the age of 40
under mysterious circumstances. After the death of his wife,  Poe became
known as a womanizer and an alcholic.  He was found unconscious on the
streets of Baltimore, dressed in someone else's clothes, dying several days
later in a hospital. It was then believed that he suffered from alcohol related
dementia or some physical illness that caused his mind to deteriorate like rabies. The cause of death remains unknown, although it is often attriubted to 
disease, alchoholism, substance abuse or suidcide. 

Poe and his works have influenced literature around the world, as well as
other fields such as cosmology and cryptography. 
A number of his homes are museums and the Mystery Writers of America
present the Edgar Award each year for distinguished work in the mystery genre.

  The Raven (1845)      Poe first brought The Raven  to his friend and former employer of Graham Magazine (Philadelphia), who declined the poem. but gave Poe $15 as charity. They printed The Raven  in their February 1846 issue under another name.

The poem's first publication with Poe's name was in the Evening Mirror (New York) on January 29, 1845.  The Raven is the poem that poe is most famous for. It has influenced many modern works and is referenced throughout popular culture in films, television, music, and video games. 

Here are two different versions of The Raven. The first is a spookier version by Christopher Lee (many of you may know him from The Lord of the Rings) or the more humorous version by the Simpson's.

Listen to this spooky version by Christopher Lee

Have fun with the Simpson's version

You can read two ITALIAN versions of THE RAVEN here:
Il CORVO translated in 1932 by Antonio Bruno (Sicilian Futurist author)
IL CORVO translated in 2006 by Francesca Daino (translator) 

For more on EDGAR ALLEN POE, go to Poe Stories.com