Sat Dec 5 · 2:00pm
Author Talk: Paul Lewis — An Embattled Poet, a Pilloried Bird
Lewis, professor emeritus at Boston College, discusses his book on how Poe's “The Raven” became the most famous American poem. More than 5,300 poems appeared in American magazines in 1845; he asks why this one was reprinted, attacked and parodied so relentlessly, in versions swapping the raven for owls, turkeys, pigs and bedbugs, and what Poe's own reputation had to do with it.