Poe Was a Victim of Rabies Edgar Allen Poe was a great writer that lived a hard life and died an unfortunate death. On October 7, 1849 Edgar Allen Poe died. There are many theories of how Poe died such as alcoholism and rabies. Poe died of rabies not alcoholism. Dr. R. Michael Benitez explains that one fourth of rabies victims cannot remember being bitten (Pg. 187). There is no evidence that Poe was bitten, but it can take up to a year for symptoms to appear. “When symptoms do appear the disease is a swift and brutal killer. Most patients die in a few days.” (New York Times pg. 187). Poe was only alive for four days at the hospital and was confused and belligerent most of the time. “Rabies victims frequently exhibit hydrophobia, or fear of water, because it is painful to swallow.” (New York Times pg. 187). For that reason, he could drink water only with great difficulty. 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 …show more content…
For example, Dr. Benitez, in his article, said Poe was perspiring heavily, hallucinating, and shouting at imaginary companions (New York Times pg. 187). These are all signs of rabies not alcoholism. “Poe had all of the features of encephalitic rabies” said Dr. Henry Wilde, who frequently treats rabies at Chulalongkorn University Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. A doctor that studies rabies and treats them all of the time, even thinks that Poe had rabies. Rabies victims frequently exhibit hydrophobia, or fear of water, because it is painful to swallow.” (New York Times pg. 187). Poe could only drink water with great
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,
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
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).
Neither of his first two collections attracted much attention. "Poe married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia Clemn. She burst a blood vessel in 1842, and remained a virtual worthless until her death from tuberculosis five years later" (online-literature, pg. 2). He addressed the famous poem "Annabel Lee" to her in 1849. In 1836, he received an editorship at The Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond. Around this time, Edgar began using drugs and dinking very heavily. He even showed up at events drunk. Still, he was writing incredible stories and poems. Poe received a large amount of recognition, not only for his poetry and fiction, but as an exceptional literary critic. He also achieved popular success, especially following the publication of his poem "The Raven." Edgar had fallen for Merrie next and she died of brain cancer. After a period in which he was involved in various romantic affairs, Poe planned to remarry, but in late September, 1849 he arrived in Baltimore for reasons unknown. "Poe suffered from bouts of depression and madness, and he attempted suicide in 1848" (online-literature, pg. 2). In early October he was discovered nearly unconscious in a Baltimore gutter. Edgar was taken to Washington College Hospital. Some say that Poe called out the name "Reynolds" on the night before he died. He died on early in the morning of October 7, 1849. He was buried in the yard of Baltimore's Wesminster Presbyterian Church. People said that his
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.
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
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.
Edgar Allen Poe was married to Virginia Poe when she was only thirteen years old. They were the happiest couple in the Poe family, they were always laughing and singing together. All this rapidly changed when Virginia became sick, she was later diagnosed with tuberculosis. Tuberculosis was a well known disease to Poe, as many of his loved ones died from tuberculosis, so he knew that his love would not live for long. Upon the diagnosis of Virginia's disease, “Poe began to drink more under the stress of Virginia’s illness.”(CSI: Edgar Allen Poe) He would spend hours at taverns attempting to drink his sorrows away, but alas it did not work, it only caused the poet to become an alcoholic. His heavy drinking habits prove that he would very likely died from alcohol as his consumption level was far too high.
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
According to the CDC, over 88,000 people die every year due to the excessive use of alcohol in the United States. Now this proves that alcoholism is a very serious and common issue in our country. Poe’s death to this day has been thought of as a great mystery, most believing he died from either alcohol or rabies. According to several sources saying that Poe was sent to the hospital after being to drunk, not being able to tell doctors the names of his family members/where he lived, and the fact that his cat, Caterina, was proven to not have rabies, I believe he died from alcohol.
“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.
Substance abuse plays a role in more than one of Poe's works. In the black cat alcohol drives the narrator to rip out his cats eye with with a pen and then hang the cat in guilt of what he had done. The narrator was a kind hearted man who loved animals and would do nothing to hurt them until he started to drink. He became an angrier person, always getting enraged with the people and creatures around him and his personality changed for the worse. Substance abuse changed him and drove him to be a different person than he really was. After killing the cat he felt little to no remorse for the deed he had committed and went back to his drinking and partying.Eventually his drinking led him to kill his wife, substance abuse changed him into a
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.