Search

Browse By Author

Author List

Share This Title

Send this product to a friend

MUP Catalogs

Home  >  Literary  >  All Literary

Quothing "The Raven": The First Responses to America’s Most Famous Poem

Quothing "The Raven": The First Responses to America’s Most Famous Poem
By author: Paul Lewis
Product Code: P750
ISBN: 9798897360383
Availability:Not currently available.
(Backorder policy)
Price: $30.00

Qty:
It did not take long to see that Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" would have an enduring impact on American culture. Instantly ubiquitous, it was widely reprinted, celebrated, criticized, and mocked during the years between its January 29, 1845, publication in New York and Poe's death in Baltimore on October 7, 1849. In QUOTHING "THE RAVEN," Paul Lewis follows America's most famous poem during these years from the literary salons where it was discussed, to the newspapers where it was reviewed, to the twenty-nine parodies that made fun of both the poem and its controversial author. Collected here for the first time, these parodies replaced Poe's "ominous bird of yore" with a veritable menagerie of other animals including a dove, owl, gazelle, turkey, skunk, rats, and bedbugs! Operating as cultural time machines, they carry us back to barrooms and boarding houses; a dormitory in New Haven and a boxing ring in Maryland; the New York town council and the Congress of the United States; a furniture-making shop; and, most ignominiously, Hell. While a few responded seriously to Poe's treatment of mourning and loss, most deployed the formal features of "The Raven" to engage with then-current controversies about such matters as racial difference, tariff policy, debtors' prisons, public art, alcoholism, prizefighting, and immigration. On its way to global superstardom, "The Raven" struck chords that have resounded from the antebellum period to our own time.
Bookmark and Share

Reviews

Review by: Sandra Tomc, professor of English Language and Literature, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and author of INDUSTRY AND THE CREATIVE MIND - June 11, 2026
"Paul Lewis's QUOTHING 'THE RAVEN' is a wonderful romp through the sea of parodies that proliferated in the wake of the publication of Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Raven' in 1845. Here we meet not the saintly, stately Raven of Poe's poem, but 'The Owl,' 'The Turkey,' 'The Gazelle,' and even 'The Bed Bug.' Gathering these parodies together for the first time, Lewis expertly guides readers through the chaotic world of Antebellum magazines and newspapers that Poe himself navigated. Lewis has written an absolutely delightful book full of both humor and wisdom about America's most famous poem."
Review by: Scott Peeples, author of THE MAN OF THE CROWD and THE AFTERLIFE OF EDGAR ALLAN POE - June 11, 2026
"QUOTHING 'THE RAVEN' is a significant contribution to Poe scholarship and a genuine pleasure to read. Poe said that he wrote his most famous poem 'for the express purpose of running,' and Paul Lewis shows us how it 'ran' through 1840s pop culture and reshaped Poe’s career and reputation. The parodies themselves are fascinating, and the context Lewis provides for them is invaluable. This book is essential to understanding how 'The Raven' became America's favorite poem."
Review by: Richard Kopley, author of EDGAR ALLAN POE, winner of the Poe Studies Association's 2025 Patrick F. Quinn Award - June 11, 2026
"After the arrival of Poe's 'The Raven' in New York City in early 1845, take-offs took off. Many soared from New York itself, but others arose from Boston to St. Louis. With QUOTHING 'THE RAVEN,' Poe scholar Paul Lewis skillfully presents and analyzes imitations and parodies of 'The Raven' that appeared during Poe's lifetime, from the sweetly consolatory to the edgily hostile. He thereby discerningly illuminates not only Poe and his work but also the culture of the time."

Goodreads reviews