*If you've heard Blues Traveler's song "Run-Around" (released in 1994), you've heard Poe alive and well in modern pop music. The song begins with the line "Once upon a midnight, dearie,"- which is very similar to the first line of Poe's "The Raven:" "Once upon a midnight dreary . . ." The tune proceeds to describe the singer's longing for a woman who has left him, just as Poe pined for his lost Lenore.*Heavy metal band Iron Maiden included the song "Murders in the Rue Morgue" — the title of one of Poe's best-known stories — on their 1981 album "Killers." *Many television shows have borrowed plot lines or images from Poe, including the spooky 1960s soap opera "Dark Shadows," the comedy series "The Munsters," "Homicide," the 1990s police show set in Baltimore, and perhaps most famous of all, the animated hit "The Simpsons." During a second season Simpsons episode, James Earl Jones read part of "The Raven" while Homer as the narrator and Bart as the raven acted out the poem.*In 1945, the Mystery Writers of America, Inc. established an award to recognize outstanding contributions to various categories of mystery, crime and suspense writing. These awards are known as The Edgar Allan Poe Awards. The statuette that winners receive is called an Edgar. *National Football League 2000 Super Bowl champions are named the Baltimore Ravens, after Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem "The Raven." After all, the poem is about the torment and anguish of fierce longing, something Baltimore football fans know all too well....
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