Edgar Allan Poe Substance Abuse
Sam Doueiri
Edgar Allan Poe and substance abuse The Bottled Curse
Edgar Allan Poe was one of America’s most celebrated poet and story teller. His life started early with misfortune. Both of his parents were already dead, when Edgar was 3 years old. His father died of tuberculosis and his mother died of tuberculosis and pneumonia. He was adopted and attended school until he was 17 years old. He started the abuse of alcohol with 17 and he started gambling. As his adopting father figured out, he stopped all financial supports of his adopted son. Edgar had to leave the University and he enlisted in the U.S. military, and later obtained a military school. Edgar Allan Poe was expelled from the military school after one year attending. During …show more content…
During these fits of absolute unconsciousness I drank … God only knows how often or how much. As a matter of course, my enemies referred the insanity to the drink rather than the drink to the insanity.” Courtney JF: “Addiction and Edgar Ellen Poe” Med Times 1972; 100:162-163.
He started in a young age with the excessive abuse of alcohol, as a classmate recalled: “He would always seize the tempting glass, generally unmixed with sugar or water- in fact, perfectly straight- and without the least apparent pleasure, swallow the contents, never pausing until the last drop had passed his lips.” Bonaparte M: “The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe”, Imago Pub, London 1949:31-32
Alcohol appears frequently in Poe’s stories, usually connected to some following violent act or event: ” One night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, I fancied that the cat avoided my presence. I seized him; when, in his fright at my violence, he inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with his teeth. The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fiber of my frame. I took from my waistcoat-pocket a penknife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its
Edgar Allan Poe and substance abuse The Bottled Curse
Edgar Allan Poe was one of America’s most celebrated poet and story teller. His life started early with misfortune. Both of his parents were already dead, when Edgar was 3 years old. His father died of tuberculosis and his mother died of tuberculosis and pneumonia. He was adopted and attended school until he was 17 years old. He started the abuse of alcohol with 17 and he started gambling. As his adopting father figured out, he stopped all financial supports of his adopted son. Edgar had to leave the University and he enlisted in the U.S. military, and later obtained a military school. Edgar Allan Poe was expelled from the military school after one year attending. During …show more content…
During these fits of absolute unconsciousness I drank … God only knows how often or how much. As a matter of course, my enemies referred the insanity to the drink rather than the drink to the insanity.” Courtney JF: “Addiction and Edgar Ellen Poe” Med Times 1972; 100:162-163.
He started in a young age with the excessive abuse of alcohol, as a classmate recalled: “He would always seize the tempting glass, generally unmixed with sugar or water- in fact, perfectly straight- and without the least apparent pleasure, swallow the contents, never pausing until the last drop had passed his lips.” Bonaparte M: “The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe”, Imago Pub, London 1949:31-32
Alcohol appears frequently in Poe’s stories, usually connected to some following violent act or event: ” One night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, I fancied that the cat avoided my presence. I seized him; when, in his fright at my violence, he inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with his teeth. The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fiber of my frame. I took from my waistcoat-pocket a penknife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its