The Raven on Display

Not just "a" raven, but "the" raven that inspired Edgar Allan Poe to write the poem The Raven, is on display now at the Free Library of Philadelphia as part of their Dickens collection. The bird, named Grip, was author Charles Dickens' pet, and was enshrined in more than one classic work of literature.

The raven appeared as a minor character in Dickens' book Barnaby Rudge, which Poe reviewed and criticised for the bird's small role.

Four years later, in 1845, he penned his immortal and haunting poem The Raven.

It told of a talking raven visiting a distraught man whose lover had just died, arriving 'as of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door'. The paragraphs then trace the man's slow descent into madness.

The carefully preserved and stuffed raven is one of the more unusual items in the Philadelphia library's valuable Dickens collection.

Link -via The Daily What

The Free Library of Philadelphia is celebrating Charles Dickens' 200th birthday all year long. Link