The Baltimore Ravens: the only professional sports club named after a work of classic literature

The Baltimore Ravens are the only professional sports club named after a work of classic literature. The Ravens take their name from the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, who lived in Baltimore.

The mystical, enigmatic plot of "The Raven" tells of a bird that flies in through the window of a grieving narrator, settles on the bust of Pallas and answers its master's questions about his beloved.

...Once, at midnight, in a gloomy hour, full of heavy thought,
I bent over ancient tomes in a half-sleep,
I gave myself up to strange dreams, when suddenly an indistinct sound arose,
As if someone had knocked, had knocked at my door.
"It must be," I whispered, "a guest in the midnight silence,
A guest knocking at my door."

Literal translation

...

I pushed open the latticed window, and at once with a stately gait
From behind the shutters came a Raven, the proud Raven of bygone days,
He did not bow politely, but entered haughtily, like a lord,
And, lazily flapping a wing, in his magnificent gravity
He flew up onto the bust of Pallas that was above my door,
He flew up, and sat above it.
I woke from my sorrow and involuntarily smiled,
Seeing the gravity of this bird, which had lived for many years.
"Your crest is nicely plucked, and you look most comical,"
I said, "but tell me: in the realm of darkness, where it is always night,
What were you called, proud Raven, there, where night reigns for ever?"
The Raven said: "Never."
...

Literal translation