Poe's death. What do you think?

- Edgar Allan Poe

chamber door. - The Raven

- Eldorado

- Alone

Edgar Allan Poe was a very creative, and innovative person. His poetry was very different and unique.Growing up, he had many ups and downs. Living was rough with all the tragedies that came upon Edgar while he was still young. Although he went through many hardships, Poe was still successful in his  career. He was an intelligent man excelling in his works. He put people in awe with his prodigious poems.

Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston. The second child of three, his other brother soon became a poet as well before his early death. Soon after his birth, Poe’s mother had died from an unknown illness. His father left Edgar alone and after this, his father also died from an unknown illness. He was taken in by his foster parents, John and Frances Allan, who were wealthy tobacco merchants. John had dreams for Edgar to be a businessman and gentlemen, but Poe had dreams of becoming a writer. By the age of thirteen, he had enough poems to publish a book, but his headmaster did not allow it. In 1826, Poe had left to pursue his dreams in becoming a writer and went to the University of Virginia. Excelling in classes, he also gained a considerable amount of debt. Allan did not give him enough money to complete college, only about a third of what was needed, and soon Poe began to gamble to pay off his expenses. At the end of the term, he was so poor that he had to burn his furniture to stay warm. Enraged by the humiliation of not being able to pay off expenses, Poe returned  to Richmond, to visit his fiancee Elmira Royster only to find out she left him for someone else during his absence. Poe left to become a poet and by the age of eighteen, he published his first poem, Tamerlane. Two years later his mother was suffering a disease called tuberculosis (bacterial infection in the lungs). By the time he arrived to Richmond, she had already been buried. Leaving to Baltimore, he arrived at his aunts house to live there for a few years. During this time he met Virginia, and soon he began to gain a liking to her. While in Baltimore, Allan died, leaving Poe alone with only few relatives. Winning a contest, Poee gained an editorial position at the Southern Literary Messenger. Within a year, Poe made the Messenger the most popular magazine in the south. At the age of twenty-seven he left to Richmond to marry Virginia, who was not fourteen at the time. Because of low pay in the Messenger, Poe left the magazine and became an editor at Grahams. Although he was growing in fame, he still had difficulty in making a living. All was well until in 1842 his wife contracted tuberculosis, the same disease that took his mother.  

The publication of  “The Raven” made Poe a famous name. He could now draw crowds big enough to give lectures and speeches. Rumors about his relationship with a married woman caused Poe to leave the area and move in with Virginia into a tiny cottage. The winter of 1847, Virginia died at the age of twenty-four. Poe, devastated, did not write for months. His critics believed that he was going to die soon, and they were correct. At the age of forty, Poe was found dead mysteriously in a bar on October 7, 1849. Days after his death, his rival, Rufus Griswold, wrote an obituary in order to dismiss Poe and his works from the community. Instead Poe remained a great figure in their lives. This legend still lives on today and will in the future.

Many death theories are out there as to what had killed Poe. Three valid theories would be the cause of dipsomania, delirium tremens, and alcohol dehydrogenase. These all involve something with alcohol. I believe that delirium tremens would be the most likely cause for Poe’s death. Delirium tremens is a severe form of alcohol withdrawal that involves sudden or severe mental or nervous system changes. Poe was found dead in a bar. I think that after the death of Virginia, Poe tried to stop his pain with drinking large amounts of alcohol. Poe’s body might not have dealt with the amount of alcohol being put in and his system could not handle it, hence the severe mental or nervous system change.

http://poestories.com/poetry.php

http://www.poemuseum.org/life.php

https://www.youtube.com/

http://www.merriam-webster.com/

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000766.htm