On January 29, 1845 one of the most famous and recognizable poems ever published in the United States hit the streets. Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven was published in the New York’s The Evening Mirror. The New York Mirror was a weekly newspaper published in New York City from 1823 to 1842, and again as a daily newspaper renamed The Evening Mirror from 1844 to 1898.
The poem attracted a lot of attention. After it’s reprinting in the February 1845 issue of American Review, the poem was reprinted in many publications around the country including The Liberator in February of 1945 with an interesting introduction:
The following lines from a correspondent—besides the deep quaint strain of the sentiment, and the curious introduction of some ludicrous touches amidst the serious and impressive, as was doubtless intended by the author—appear to us one of the most felicitous specimens of unique rhyming which have for some time met our eye.
Collection: The Liberator
Publication: The Liberator
Date: February 21, 1845
Title: POETRY. (From the American Review for February.)
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
From the Archive
Search Tip
When researching public figures like Edgar Allan Poe it helps to determine how that person’s name was generally used in print. In modern time we refer to the poet by all three of his names in discussions and in print. That complicates matters when doing searches for materials published in his lifetime.
A search in the archives shows that if you look specifically for Edgar Allan Poe you will only find only fifteen records, and those are all from well after his death. When his poetry was published during his own lifetime the attribution was Edgar A. Poe. so the next time you need a Poe fix, be sure to search for Edgar A. Poe’s work.
Results show that Edgar Allan Poe returns fifteen documents while Edgar A. Poe returns a whopping seventy-two documents.
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