Historical Relevance???

Was it Edgar Allen Poe that gave ravens a sinister name "....quoth the raven, nevermore",by having this talking bird visit the forelorn lover as he goes mad,  or were ravens maligned long before Poe for their dastardly deeds in autumn corn fields? 

Shakespeare must have contributed to the ravens demise in a graveyard soliloquy during Romeo and Juliet or a particularly despondent scene in Macbeth. 

When we lived in Iowa, the weathervane crow was much more prominent than either Michigan or Minnesota.  Of course, we were in the middle of agri-America where the only thing you could see from our rooftop were rows and rows of corn or soy beans no matter which way you looked.......that's the making for a well sustained crow flock!  

Doesn't the line for the image below begin, "Ah, poor Iago, I knew him well......"?  ....Othello, I believe......Any Shakespeare buffs out there???

I still enjoy the more trendy version of the raven in thew relief print below.  I wasn't sure this one would print too well on the black paper because it is so porous.  Combined with the somewhat low-opaque ink, and the image is a little lackluster.  As I think I said in an earlier post, the purple background helps 'pop' the contrast.