Poe was a sociopathic literary imposter, and a massive plagiarist--just has his former friend, Thomas Dunn English, said he was. He never wrote "The Raven," and his claim to its authorship was a brazen scam. 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
Poe was a sociopathic literary imposter, and a massive plagiarist--just has his former friend, Thomas Dunn English, said he was. He never wrote "The Raven," and his claim to its authorship was a brazen scam. 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