What is the answer to this question by Edgar Allan Poe ... ?

Question

"Why is a raven like a writing desk?" He asked it, but never answered it.

It seems I was misinformed as to the author of the question (which was originally put to me during the construction of a jigsaw puzzle years ago). As several people noted, "why is a raven like a writing desk" was asked by Lewis Carroll, not Poe. And thanks to those of you who were able to answer the question, it puts to rest one of those nagging little things running around in my brain :)

Answer 1

From Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", Chapter 7 "A Mad Tea Party", the Mad Hatter asks Alice, "Why is a raven like a writing-desk"?
Many answers have been given for this riddle from many people. Carroll himself, though, supplied one in a new preface of his 1896 edition of "Alice." He said "Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front." Note the spelling of "never" as "nevAr." Carroll clearly intended to spell "raven" backwards. The word was corrected to "never" in later printings, perhaps by an editor who fancied he had caught a printer's error. Because Carroll died soon after this "correction" destroyed the cleverness of his answer, the original spelling was never restored.

Answer 2

This question was actually asked at the mad tea party in "Alice in Wonderland", written by Lewis Carroll. The question was not answered in the book, and the author wrote it without finding it important to have an answer. But readers and fans pressed upon him for the answer, so he later came up with "Because they both can produce a few notes, although they are usually pretty flat.". I believe he remained somewhat indifferent toward this answer, as it wasn't very significant to his story.

Answer 3

A raven is like a writing desk because he is a messenger of ideas.

Answer 4

are u truly interested in the answer or are u just asking it because he never answered himself ? i think ur asking for the pleasure of knowing it which u probably never will because that question is more of a metaphor n metaphors are interpretations based on opinions rather than facts ...poe's question has no right answer. it's fun to think though

Answer 5

I'm not sure that Poe is the one who asked the question, but one popular answer is that "Poe wrote on both"

Answer 6

maybe the answer is in his short story about the raven.