how is a raven like a writing desk?

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

Because they're both in the Adventures of Alice in Wonderland.

Answer 3

Edgar Allen Poe wrote on both