Edgar Allan Poe’s Death Is Still His Greatest Unsolved Mystery
Edgar Allan Poe has been called the first truly modern author. He was the first American to live completely by what he earned through writing, according to The Los Angeles Times — although his profits remained grim during his short life.
The anniversary of Edgar Allan’s death this month, Oct. 7 to be exact, recalls a day that reflected much of the influential horror author’s work — devoid of answers and filled with disturbing possibilities. Literary theorists and experts have blamed everything from alcohol to carbon monoxide poisoning. One doctor even posthumously diagnosed Poe with rabies.
The rabies theory came from a a blind diagnosis done in 1996 by a doctor who was shown the case study for a writer from Richmond, Virginia, named E.P. Since he did not know that the initials stood for Edgar Poe, the doctor had no preconceived bias about the author’s drinking habits and depressive history. Jeff Jerome, former curator of the Poe House Museum in Baltimore, told the Chicago Tribune that he accepts this analysis, or at least credits it is as more viable than popular theories that Poe drank himself to death.
“This is the first time since [Edgar Allan] died that a medical person looked at Poe’s death without any preconceived notions. If he knew it was Edgar Allan Poe, he’d think, ‘Oh yeah, drugs, alcohol,’ and that would influence his decision. Dr. Benitez had no agenda.”
“Lord, help my poor soul.”—Edgar Allan Poe (d. Oct. 7, 1849) #famouslastwords #halloween https://t.co/AFXr9jCP4E pic.twitter.com/ItmLojDrwZ
— Poets.org (@POETSorg) October 21, 2016
Still, Edgar Allan’s alcoholism is perhaps the most commonly cited reason for his death. After all, the afflicted writer wasn’t shy about documenting his manic depression and his primary source of alleviation. However, the alcoholism theory doesn’t account for the strange events surrounding Poe’s death. Five days after he left for Philadelphia to edit a collection of poems, he was found in soiled clothing at a Baltimore train station. He passed away after days of delirious fits — screaming out the name “Reynolds” as if recalling his long lost “Lenore.”
Edgar Allan’s career vacillated wildly during his short life. When he’d make a major win with something like “The Raven,” it would be followed by time living in squalor. In the time in between, Poe was known for his acerbic reviews of other literature. Poe was especially hateful of Transcendentalism, arguably the most important American literary movement at the time.
In fact, Edgar Allan and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow exchanged heated comments about each other to the press and in their own writing. Poe mockingly called Transcendentalists “Frog Pondians,” according to L.A. Times.
“The fact of the matter is, that the friends of Mr. Longfellow, so far from undertaking to talk about my ‘carping littleness’ in charging Mr. Longfellow with imitation, should have given me credit, under the circumstances, for great moderation in charging him with imitation alone. Had I accused him, in loud terms, of manifest and continuous plagiarism, I should but have echoed the sentiment of every man of letters in the land beyond the immediate influence of the Longfellow coterie.”
“Science has not yet taught us if madness is or is not the sublimity of the intelligence.”
? Edgar Allan Poe pic.twitter.com/6eTtZ8nHmd
— David M Mason (@Mas0nDav1d) October 17, 2016
That’s not to say he was at odds with all the contemporary literary figures of his day. Edgar Allan was actually a friend of Charles Dickens. When the British author came to the United States, he brought along a travel companion who many believe later influenced Poe’s most famous piece: a pet raven by the name of Grip, reported Open Culture. The deceased bird, stuffed by his loving owner, now resides in the Free Library of Philadelphia.
Edgar Allan has also managed to pop up in the 2016 presidential election of all places. Tumblr users have meme-ified his classic tale “The Cask of Amontillado,” in which a man is buried alive inside a wall. A younger generation has linked the Poe story to Donald Trump’s controversial campaign promise to build a wall on the border with Mexico. One post, from bubonickitten, has more than 37,000 notes.
“Someone with a wine cellar please invite trump to their wine cellar with promises of vintage amontillado”
If you want to sample a little bit of Edgar Allan Poe, but don’t want to risk terrifying yourself by reading one of his stories, there is an episode of Comedy Central’s Drunk History series that also points out a popular tale from Poe lore regarding his tumultuous relationships with other people in the literary community. (Warning: Gratuitous censored language throughout.)
[Image by 2stlz/Shuttershock]
