Alcohol Killed Poe Edgar Allen Poe, known for his crazy writings, but what people question the most beside his stories is how did he die? There have been many theories circling around for how he has died. Two theories aare that he had rabbies or abused alcohol. Many people believe in different things and argue from very different points. However, Poe died of alcohol because, he has had a past with it in his younger years. Even though he gets sick from just one glass, he could of wanted to kill himself or had a withdraw and craved it. Many people believe Poe died of rabbies however, there is more then enough evidence that supports he died of alcohol. In "Poe's Final Days"the author says '' Many others who had known Poe, includuing the professsionally trained Dr. Snodgrass, also attributed his death to lethal amounts of alcohol." (Silverman 186). I believe this quote means that even his family knows he had gained his drinking problem back. If he did possibly get his drinking problem back then possibly he could not stop himself from drinking a lot at once. "Poe was found outside a Baltimore saloon in an alcohlic stupor on October 3, 1849, and died four days …show more content…
In some of the stories they talk about how he had a drinking problem when he was much younger than what he was at this moment. Even if he had not been able to drink anything without getting sick he could have finally gotten use to the Acohol after a long while of trying to drink it. In " Poe's Final Day's" by Kenneth Silverman he talks about where they had found poe and what condition he had seemed to be in. He was found in front of a saloon in someone elses clothes. There could have been a possible chance that Poe could have been so stressed he decided to drink or maybe he just wanted to try drinking again and see what it would do to him and that could of maybe been his cause of
Edgar Allan Poe, 40, passed October 7th 1849 in Baltimore of congestion of the brain. He was born Edgar Poe on January 19th 1809 in Boston, MA to David Poe Jr. and Elizabeth Poe, later John Allan and France's Allan. He was married to his first cousin, Virginia Clemm Poe on September 22nd 1835, who died of tuberculosis at age 24. He wrote short stories about his struggles in life and his misfortunes. He survived by his siblings, William and Rosalie Poe. He did not have any children or remaining immediate family. His stories will forever be a part of American Literature as pieces of art.
Others still think it was more than just alcohol that left Poe in such distress. During a medical conference in 1996 an anonymous patient named E.P was presented to a group of doctors. Their assignment was to examine E.P’s symptoms and from there conclude what caused his death. The article The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe explains,
Edgar Allan Poe’s death was caused by the infamous act of cooping. He was found outside of a bar during voting time; delirious and dressed in second hand-clothes, he was later sent to Washington College Hospital to be taken care of. This theory is the most plausible because it explains why he was drugged, how they found him in other people’s clothes, and the reason why he was a victim of cooping.
Even though Poe was completely addicted to alcohol, many times, he tried very hard to fight against his alcoholism. Right after his first long drinking experience, during college, he tried to stay away from it (Black, Jamee A. 3). His drinking times were intermittent and he stayed abstain from alcohol for months in some of those periods (Poe, Drugs and Alcohol 8). Promises were made and repeatedly times he said that would never drink again. As one side of Poe tells him that he should stop with alcohol, the other side tells that he should drink to relief his emotional pains and usually he followed this last side once is a lot easier to deal with it (Black, Jamee A. 6). In 1847, Poe’s get extremely hard into drinking, one of the worse times during his whole life, after the death of his young wife Virginia (Hennelly, Mark M. 1). After this event he could stop drinking alcohol anymore (Poe, Drugs and Alcohol 14).
To begin, many people believe Poe died of alcoholism, however he did not and there is no actual evidence of this. According to Jeff Jerome, by the time Poe was forty he almost always avoided alcohol (188). If Poe had stopped drinking as he aged, it is extremely unlikely that he would have returned to it and drank enough to kill him. The text states, "(Jeff Jerome) said that he had heard dozens of tales (of Poe dying a victim to his alcoholism) but that almost everyone that has come forth with a theory has offered no proof" (NY Times 188). Many people who attributed Poe's death to alcohol only
There are many theories of how Edgar Allan Poe died. One of the theories is alcohol. Poe was a heavy drinker as a young man so it is possible. Another theory is rabies. This is also a possible theory because of the symptoms he had in the hospital.
This is why it cannot be alcoholism. “The writer is so sensitive to alcohol that a glass of wine would make him violently ill for days.” (New York Times pg.188). Therefore, he could not have died of alcoholism if drinking alcohol makes him that sick. Mr. Jerome, curator of the Edger Allen Poe House and Museum in Baltimore, said Poe may have had problems with alcohol when he was younger but by the time he died at forty he almost always avoided
How did Edgar Allen Poe die is a question that has been pondered by people for centuries. Although we can not say for a fact how Poe died there have been many theories throughout the years some more likely than others. Although other theories provide good evidence and reasoning to how Poe died, it seems all of Poe’s symptoms were a classic case of rabies.
The death of Edgar Allen Poe is quite the mystery. No one knows what really happened to the failed poet that cold night, while he lay on the street. Many theories suggest that Poe was murdered by one of his many enemies or that he has brain cancer and died on the street. One theory I support is that Poe died from alcohol poisoning, there is quite a bit of evidence that supports Edgar Allen Poe passed from alcohol poisoning such as he became addicted to alcohol after his wife passed, he was found near a pub, and he had brain symptoms that pointed to alcoholism.
On Oct. 7, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe died mysteriously. While there are many theories about why or how he died, I believe that it is a unknown illness or cholera. First, a document by Poe it suggest that Edgar Allan Poe had contracted cholera weeks before arriving in Richmond and had a manic episode. Next, According to Susan Archer Talley, Poe was pale and trembling. His condition was serious enough that two doctors though he was in “imminent danger” and that another “attack would kill him. Then, in addition, John Moran claims that Poe had arrived at the hospital unconscious and remains in that condition from 5:00 pm until 3:00 am. When he wakes up he trembles and sweats profusely until the following day. Although no one will ever know for certain
To begin with, as Poe’s death is mainly argued to be rabies or alcohol intoxication, he could not have died of alcohol because of the symptoms presented. Symptoms of intoxication include drowsiness, vomiting, breathing difficulties and even unconsciousness, but not hallucinating and seeing
The alcoholism theory cannot be true because the curator at the Poe museum said that Poe couldn’t touch alcoholism at his older age or he would get very sick. In all, I believe that Poe’s death was caused by rabies because Poe’s symptoms were of rabies when he died, two doctors, Dr. Pollin and Dr. Benedetto, tried disproving his theory but could only do it with false information, and another well known doctor, Dr. Benitez backs up his theory that Poe died of rabies with scientific support that can’t be refuted. At the end of the day though, none of us really know how Poe
It’s proven in the book, Poe’s Final Days, that Poe had been drinking consistently for days leading up to his death. This is known
“Mr. Poe could not possibly send forth a book without some marks of his genius, and mixed up with the dross we find much sterling ore.” — (From a review of Poe’s Tales, September 6, 1845.) In 1845, Poe, 27, and Virginia, 13, married, and were happy for a time. In 1842, Virginia ruptured a blood vessel; the first sign of the ill health that plagued her short life. Poe turned to alcohol to cope with her illness and the stress of his dying wife. Two years later, Virginia died of tuberculosis, and Poe’s own death would follow shortly two years after that.
Edgar Allan Poe also mentions alcoholism and opium addiction in his short novel “Ligeia.” The narrator of the story suffers through the tragic, sudden death of his true love, Ligeia, and quickly becomes depressed. To hopefully cure his depression, opium became his pain-suppressant and he married Lady Rowena Trevanion of Tremaine. The narrator mourned his beloved Ligeia in the first few months of the marriage and found refuge continually in opium, which would cause him to dream of his late wife. As Rowena became ill, he started to see and feel things as he was intoxicated. The narrator tried to help Rowena be on the mend by giving her some wine to drink. He has a strange hallucination, most likely caused by the high doses of opium he consumed on a regular basis. Rowena started to die and even though the narrator stayed by her side the entire time, he still mourned Ligeia to the point that he hallucinated the body coming back to life but as Ligeia instead of Rowena. In this story, the effects of opium are clearly apparent, and in most aspects the references reflect Poe’s life. The way the narrator mourns the death of Ligeia by turning to opium is very similar to Poe’s opium addiction after the death of his wife, Virginia.