Page:The Raven; with literary and historical commentary.djvu/41

 Rh of The Raven, the publication of it with his name attached, and the immediate reproduction of the poem in the journals of nearly every town in the United States, rendered any attempt at concealment impossible. No single "fugitive" poem ever aroused such immediate and extensive excitement; in the course of a few weeks it was known all over the United States; it called into existence parodies and imitations innumerable; afforded occasion for multitudinous paragraphs, and, in fact, created quite a literature of its own.

The Raven's reputation rapidly spread into other countries; it carried its author's name and fame from shore to shore, inducing again and again the poets of various peoples to attempt to transmute its magical music into their own tongues. Among his fellow literati it made Poe the lion of the season, and drew admiring testimony from some of the finest spirits of the age. His society was sought by the élite of literary circles, and the best houses of New York were ready to open their doors to the poor, desperately poor, poet.

"Although he had been connected with some of the leading magazines of the day," remarks Mrs. Whitman, "and had edited for a time with great ability several successful periodicals, his literary reputation at the North had been comparatively limited until his removal to New York, when he became personally known to a large circle of authors and literary people, whose interest in his writings was manifestly enhanced by the perplexing anomalies of his character, and by the singular magnetism of his presence." But it was not until the publication of his famous poem that he became a society lion. When The Raven appeared,