Everytime I watch Alice in Wonderland, I am asked this annoying question:
How is a Raven like a Writing Desk?!
I Do not get it! Did anyone figure it out? Does anyone have a CLUE to it's answer? I don't get it!!! Let's make some guesses...
I guess the similarity can be the color perhaps?
I have actually done a fair amount of research on this question, and the answer is pretty much "there is no answer". While the commonly accepted answer is, as previously stated, "They were both written on by Poe", it was meant to be a nonsensical question. Just as "Jabberwocky" was a nonsensical poem, it is meant to sound profound when, in reality, it isn't.
While the previously stated answer does give a true answer to the question, there is much debate as to whether Mr. Carroll (author of AIW) would have answered the question this way. This is because Poe was more of a near-contemporary of Carroll (Poe wrote from 1833-1846, while Carroll wrote
Alice in 1865), which allows for the arguement that Poe may not have been famous enough to be included in such a reference. While the scholarly folks of that time certainly would have been familiar with the poet, Mr. Carroll's audience would probably not have been familiar with him.
In short, the purpose for this question is this: To befuddle readers and cause them to search for an answer to a question with which there is no real answer.