The Demise of a Literary Genius
“Sometimes the person who is the most logical is the person whom we call insane.” -Kevin Spacey Ever since the moment Edgar Allan Poe took his final breath his passing has been a controversy. Did he poison himself? Or did he catch rabies from an infected animal? I strongly stand behind my theory of alcohol poisoning because he was a know drunk, was suffering from a dark depression, and just by reading his works you could tell he was insane.
Poe was reported to have an alcohol problem. Other theories say he was over his alcoholic ways. They are incorrect, because why else would he be found outside a tavern in a stupor, smelling like he drank up the towns liquor supply, and wearing tattered clothes? Another theory claims he contracted rabies from an animal, but in reality he had the symptoms of someone’s liver shutting down due to alcohol poisoning.
Poe was alone and depressed. When his foster mother died, I believe Poe slipped away into loneliness . While others may believe the depression came at a later time in life, It really started in college, after Frances (His foster mother who he cared for like a mother) passed away from the deadly disease called Tuberculosis. He became indebted more money that he had. He begged his Foster Father, John Allan, to pay his debts, but instead he left Edgar in the dust. At this point he felt all alone and nobody to care about him.
People can be sane or insane but writers are almost always insane. While certain people may think he was only slightly eccentric, but how he worded his stories and what he wrote about proves that there was definitely something wrong with. Poe even confirmed this when he said “I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.” The collection of his work can be a little deranged, The Raven predicted the death of his wife Virginia, because that sounds normal, right?
Edgar Allan Poe, did he drink his way to a death? Did a rabid animal implant a ticking time bomb of death in his system? There is obvious evidence he drank his way straight to death. He was a known consumer of alcohol, he was suffering from a depression, and was absolutely insane. After reading this essay my question to you is, do you think Edgar died from alcohol poisoning?
