In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter asks “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” but this is never answered in the book.
In the fall of 1969, at University of Winnipeg, in a course on 20th century British Literature, we were starting with a study of Carroll’s book as an allegory for modern times. The curly-headed prof sat Cheshire cat-like in Lotus position on a desk at the front and suggested an answer I’ve never forgotten: “Poe wrote on both”.