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Edgar Allan Poe's Death And Suicide Analysis

Decent Essays

Edgar Allen Poe, the writer who had skills with paper and ink sharper than a sword. His life was full of anger, despair, and deaths of his loved ones, his own death, however, has remained a mystery. Many theories have been proposed, some blaming alcohol, and some newer ones accusing rabies as Poe’s killer. In the newspaper article “Poe’s Death Is Rewritten as Case of Rabies, Not Telltale Alcohol” from The New York Times, cardiologist Dr. R. Michael Benitez, writer of the article, believes in such a fate. Benitez argues that alcohol, the most popular killer of the famous writer, was not the real reason of his death, rather, it was rabies that led to Poe’s demise. The cardiologist has some good claims, but the evidence and logic point in the …show more content…

The evidence of such a claim comes directly from his own writing, not his famous works of art, but his personal letters to his family. The letter to Dr. Benitez “If Only Poe Had Succeeded When He Said Nevermore to Drink” by Burton R. Pollin and Robert E. Benedetto from The New York Times explains how Poe died due to alcohol rather than rabies, going againsts Benitez’s words. The authors state “Evidence from Poe’s chronic binges is strewn through his letters, in periodic admissions of ‘recoveries’ and promises to his wife, Virginia, and her mother to ‘reform’” (Pollin and Benedetto). His personal letters show that he was drinking excessively prior to his death, enough to cause violent and psychotic behavior. Many doctors, both past and present, agree that alcohol caused Poe’s death. In the biography “Poe’s Final Days’ by Kenneth Silverman from “Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance” the author explains how many people agreed. Silverman states “Many others who had known Poe, including the professionally trained Dr.Snodgrass, also attributed his death to a lethal amount of alcohol” (Silverman). Considerable amounts of people, even those who were with Poe, agreed that alcohol was his killer, rather than

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