The Raven: Edgar Allan Poe's Masterpiece

‘The Raven’ is commonly considered to be Edgar Allan Poe’s poetic masterpiece. It details a harrowing night in the speaker’s life that includes incessant knocking and a talking raven that only says one word-“Nevermore.”
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[@ssake1_IAL_Research]

I'm glad to see you phrase it that the poem is "commonly considered" to be Poe's poetic masterpiece--because in fact, it wasn't his, at all. He merely claimed authorship of "The Raven" using a kind of 19th-century "identity theft." The poem's premiere was submitted anonymously to "American Review" under the pseudonym "---- Quarles" by the true author, Mathew Franklin Whittier, younger brother of poet John Greenleaf Whittier. Poe, a critic for the New York "Evening Mirror," finding the poem in an advance copy of "American Review," scooped Mathew in his own paper by two days. Mathew had shared a copy of "The Raven" with Poe in early 1842, so Poe had a handwritten copy in his possession. This enabled him to convince his editor that he had permission to scoop "American Review"--but he mysteriously left the "Mirror" shortly afterwards (suggesting that he may have been fired for lying about it). It is the height of absurdity that the editor of a newly-launched monthly literary magazine like the "Review," would have given a daily newspaper this permission. The real author was not in a position to reveal his identity because of his anti-slavery work and connection with the Underground Railroad, and hence could not publicly defend himself. See my paper, "Evidence that Edgar Allan Poe Stole 'The Raven' from Mathew Franklin Whittier," or a more condensed version intended for scholarly journals, entitled "Edgar Allan Poe’s Plagiarism of Mathew Franklin Whittier’s Poem, “The Raven," each of which can be downloaded from the following links. They can also be found by searching for each paper's' title on Academia.edu. www.ial.goldthread.com/MFW_The_Raven.pdf www.ial.goldthread.com/MFW_The_Raven_condensed.pdf

[@bradnorwood2983]

Poe's repetitive use of 'nevermore' and naming the poem 'The Raven' led me to wonder if Poe reversed the word 'never' to 'raven'