Question is for school project, I need info on Poe's problems in life.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 1999

Answers

He was definitely an alcoholic. If your teacher/prof. asks why you think this, tell him it is quite evident in, "hop frog" ,"the cask of amontillado" and "the black cat" just what a lil' alchy can do to a man. He also lost both of his parents before he was two years old. His first two works were complete and total failures, "Tamerlane and other poems" was his first. it sucked. He gambled, and went 2k into debt. in 1826, this was a huge amount of money.Poe was court martialed from west point military academy for disobeying orders, and went home. he had a brother, william henry poe, and a sister, rosalie poe, whom he never saw often. He moved around a lot as a kid, from virginia, US; to London, England. As an adult, he was criticized, and not paid well. He was screwed over by an editor and "friend". He only got about ten bucks, today's money, for the raven. Enough for you? Need anything else, just let me know. have fun!

-- Anonymous, November 23, 1999

Another of the reasons, I beleive, that Poe turned to drinking and had such a disastrous life, was his wife. He loved Virginia Clemm very much and when she died he just lost the meaning of life. Granted he did have many another flings and loves, but I think he had loved her more than any other as Annabel Lee shows. There were also a couple other poems that Poe wrote about his young wife. These are only my opinion though, The Raven and Lenore just to name a few. I could be wrong, hope this helps you out.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 1999

I think that Edgar Allan POe was really good looking. His work was so extreme. I wrote a poem about him. Mr Poe I love you oh man I wish I could have lived back in pakistan go go fight fight for the poems of the night poe won't you be my valentine I am disturbed, for you are on my mind

-- Anonymous, January 27, 2000

As a life long fan of Poe's, I found a wonderful book on him recently that is better and more specifically documented than any other book about him that I have. This is one of the few books that includes his critical essays. If your interested, it's: Edgar Allen Poe: Complete Tales and Poems. Published by Dorset Press in 1989.

There is an excellent section on "The Rationale of Verse." The "Preface to The Raven and Other Poems," and "The Philosophy of Composition" which explains in great detail any questions a person has about his poetry, especially The Raven. The book is 1092 pages long and is one of the most interesting books I own. Poe has been often portrayed as a melancholy drunk, and nothing could be further from the truth. In his brief forty years, he turned out sixty-eight stories, forty-seven poems, several essays and difined the art of criticism; quite an accomplishment for a sober person I'd say, much less a drunk.

-- Anonymous, February 05, 2000

I believe that Edagar Allan Poe was an alcoholic. He had many struggles in his life: death of his mother which had taunted him, the problems between he and his father, not being able to marry his first love, the loss of jobs, and the death of his wife. Edgar Allan Poe had been disappointed many times and he used the Alcohol as an anthestic, for his depressions. He was a brillant wrote who had lived a very hard life.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2000

Daniel,

Given your comments above, it is clear that you must have taken some measure of time to carry out, at least, a cursory exploration into the extraordinary life and works of Edgar Allan Poe. Interestingly, what shines through most glaringly of all is that, sadly, you have wasted your efforts. Without question, you are most certainly entitled to your opinions and clearly possess the obvious right to express those views. But, sweet Jesus Daniel, back them up with some measurable consciousness of logic, of intellectual reasoning and rationale.

Your opening sentence sounds rather authoritative. Obviously, your study of this particular subject has left you to conclude that Poe was an alcoholic and you leave no cause for further debate. Yet this single issue has been bantered back and forth for the past 150 years and even among some of the wisest scholars in literary history. At first I thought, perhaps you were in possession of or were privy to some unknown historical documents that clearly establish that Mr. Poe had a physical or psychological dependence on alcohol. But then, regrettably, I read on and found that NO, not at all.your bold and definitive statement is based merely on the fact that Poe was the author of three separate works. The tales mentioned were Hop Frog, The Cask of Amontillado and The Black Cat.

Using this same rationalization and logic, I attempted to reconcile the fact that Mary Shelley, the diminutive and exquisitely feminine and pretty young woman of the early 1800s, that just happened to be the author of Frankenstein was, in actuality, a male, and a mad scientist/doctor that prowled the countryside in the dark of night, collecting human body parts for reconstruction. Fortunately, I determined that this method of logic demanded an enormous leap of the imagination and the complete surrender of intellectual reason to come to a conclusion of so fine a definitive point. Lets put it another way, Daniel, perhaps one in which your logic need not be employed! If Mr. Poe was an alcoholic, it was because he suffered from a dependence, physical or psychological, on alcohol and NOT because he was the author of these three tales. The only thing definite in that sentence is that your reasoning is hopelessly flawed.

The most precise passage in your remarks is that Edgar had a brother and sister. Yet, this is accurate ONLY if a period had been placed after the name Rosalie Poe. The remaining part of the sentence, .., whom he never saw often. What, exactly, does that mean, Daniel? Most people seem to interpret the word never as an absolute and the word often to establish an unknown frequency. The words conflict with each other and common sense, Daniel, and badly!

Perhaps if you tried Meghans reasoning. It is certainly much more palatable to the taste for truth!

-- Anonymous, April 11, 2000

I don't think that poe was an insane man like most people think he was. I think that he was just a miss understood man at the time. People like Columbus and Capernacus were though to be insane and therefore shut off from the rest of civilization. Poe was just a misuderstood person who was thinking was just too revolutionary for the people to handle.

-- Anonymous, November 08, 2000

I agree that Poe was misunderstood. I also agree that it is a possibility that he was a drunk AFTER VIRGINA'S DEATH! He was found semiconsious and near deathi in -gasp- a bar. But for the guy above who thinks Poe's grief over Virgina is displayed in THE RAVEN- get your time period correct- THE RAVEN came out before Virginia's death

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2001

stop smoking the crack u weirdos

-- Anonymous, April 06, 2001

HE WAS A GREAT MAN AND I RESPECT HIM VERY MUCH BUT HE WAS OPIUM FREAK SO WELL ....oooo00000000oooo.... ''''' ''''' 0 0 C ___________

-- Anonymous, October 28, 2001

Truely he was never an alchoholic noy until Virgenia his wife died and he never thought out to help the women so then he became an alchoholic towards the end of his life. He also never did any drugs in his life.

-- Anonymous, February 06, 2003

Poe took opium a whole lot; however, Opium (in those years) wasn't illeagel. 'remember the original ingridient in coca-cola was coke'

-- Anonymous, April 26, 2003

Were reading a book about Edgar Allan Poe. I read about his life about how his stepdad treated him like crap. Then he got married and his wife died from a diease. Befor he died at the age of 40 he was suppose to get marrried to another girl. But he started drinking and he died. If you have any questions e-mail me!

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2003

your all losers and you all need a better hobby than this and the only reason im on hear listening to you stupid asses is for a school project.

-- Anonymous, January 20, 2004

Jacob, Poe was also a necromaniac. Which means that he tried to have sex corpses. To the rest of you crack fiends and "intelligent, knowledgeable folk" put out your ganja and SUCK A CACK.

-- Anonymous, March 23, 2004

Hmmm...alcoholism,death and most of all the death of his beloved wife...in the poem "Annabell Lee" you can really tell that he loved his wife also that he is a very gifted man too, despite the external problems( alcoholism & death), also that he was heart broken. Any man who loves his wife as much as Poe did would go insane just to get her back(well only if you were really inlove with her) hehehe gtg bye!

-- Anonymous, November 04, 2004