How Did Poe Survive for Forty Years?

Midn Jamee A. Black

The death of the great literary figure Edgar Allan Poe has led to an extensive debate. So many factors contributed to his death that one cannot completely solve the mystery of exactly which illness actually killed Poe. Rather, his death was most likely a result of compounded problems, each related to one or more of his other illnesses. Briefly, Poe's problems were medical as well as emotional and perhaps even psychological. In the first place, Poe was believed to be clinically depressed, even a bit insane. The depression and madness Poe experienced was thought to be the cause of his addiction to alcohol and drugs. Another reason Poe was an alcoholic could be that his nervous system was weakened as a result of a brain lesion and ongoing heart troubles, causing a severe intolerance of alcohol and addiction to soothing drugs. Finally, and perhaps the most obvious cause of death, was the actual finding of a brain lesion in Poe's autopsy, which could have been the cause of Poe's insanity, depression, and many of the other illnesses Poe reported.

Poe was not ill for his entire life. As a young man he was physically fit; after all, he served in the army and attended West Point. He was reported to be a swift runner and excellent swimmer, the epitome of health. An example of Poe's physical fortitude occurred when Poe was just fifteen years old when, "he swam in the James River from Ludlam's wharf to Warwick Bar, six miles, against a very strong tide and in a hot June sun, and afterwards walked back to the city with little apparent fatigue" (Woodberry 20). Moreover, alcoholism was not a problem for Poe when he was a young man. "Neither at college, nor in the army, nor at West Point, is there any proof that he showed any dangerous or even injurious taste for liquor" (Woodberry 72). Therefore, though Poe may have had a tendency towards alcoholism, depression, and drug abuse, none of these problems became apparent until Poe reached his mid-twenties.

The earliest recorded history of any illness Poe may have had occurs in his explanation to Mr. White on May 30, 1835, as to why he did not respond to his letters. He wrote, "'Ill health alone prevented me from [writing].... I was so ill as to be hardly able to see the paper on which I wrote'" (Woodberry 71). The next serious illness noted in Poe's life was sympathetic heart-trouble as well as brain congestion by Dr. John W. Francis in 1842. Dr. Francis also noted Poe's inability to withstand stimulants, again stressing Poe's sensitivity towards alcohol and drugs (Phillips 1508). As time passed, Poe's conditions grew worse. With a combination of depression, madness, alcoholism, drug addictions, and brain and heart dysfunction, Poe's last years were plagued with serious illnesses. How many of these illnesses could have been prevented by abstaining from drugs and alcohol will never be known.

A probable cause of Poe's drug and alcohol abuse was most likely depression. Numerous accounts that Poe wrote about this ailment exist. Whether the illness was depression in the clinical sense of the term is unclear, but the assumption that he suffered from depression can be made with almost complete accuracy (Phillips 1464). One source of evidence that Poe was depressed is Poe himself, evident in this letter to Mr. Kennedy on September 11, 1835, saying, "'I am suffering under a depression of spirits, such as I have never felt before. I have struggled in vain against this melancholy" (Woodberry 76). Late in 1848 he wrote again of his illness to his friend Annie Richmond and said, "'It is not so much ill that I have been depressed in spirits--I cannot express to you how terribly I have been suffering from gloom" (Phillips 1399). After 1848, Poe's symptoms seemed to worsen. In September of 1849, Poe wrote a letter to Mrs. Clemm that was nearly incomprehensible. Phillips comments, "Poe's own missive seems touched with his coming depression delirium in the flighty instability of purpose and expression"(Phillips 1464). Also indicative of depression were the suicidal tendencies that surfaced throughout Poe's life, only to be controlled with alcohol. When he left Richmond on September 27, 1849, he seemed anything but well. Most sources say though he was quite sober, he was suffering from "nervous congestion depression" (Phillips 1495). The fact that Poe depicts himself as lonely in many of his letters and writes almost solely about death supports the view that he was a manic depressive. His depression may have also led to two other believed causes of death: madness and a dependence upon alcohol.

Indeed, madness was "in character" for Edgar Allan Poe. Most agree from the facts surrounding Poe's life that his nervous system was extremely sensitive, an ailment which could be a significant indicator of madness. A possible breakdown occurred when Poe arrived at John Sartain's office, begging him for protection from an imaginary army of conspirators disguised as "loungers" in 1849. Poe attempted to shave off his moustache so "they" would not recognize him. He insisted on climbing to the highest point of the reservoir in Philadelphia for protection, finally escaping Sartain. He eventually arrived at Sartain's house again and entertained the idea of committing suicide, not his first nor last entertainment of that idea (Mankowitz 232). Woodberry referred to this madness as a possible "hereditary taint" (73). More convincing is Dr. Nash's argument after listening to Poe's recitations one evening in New York City in September of 1849. He diagnosed Poe's madness by determining the following: "'Poe at such times was the victim of abnormal psychology. There are conditions known as psycho-neurosis of exhaustion, during which period there is a more or less complete paralysis of the will... victims of psycho-neurosis had morbid, irresistible impulses" (Phillips 1469). Furthermore, Dr. George Rawlins also notes that Poe was "violent from time to time" for no apparent reason, which signifies madness and depression. The dysfunction most likely was caused by the brain lesion (Mankowitz 234). On the other hand, some contemporaries believe his madness occurred before the brain lesion manifested and is attested to by the topics Poe's works dealt with (Franklin 178). Regardless of physical evidence, Poe was definitely deranged and acted in ways which were conceived as mad. His actions could or could not have been results of depression, alcoholism, mental dysfunction, or the brain lesion.

Another repercussion of Poe's depression that was coupled with his madness was his obvious addiction to alcohol. The suggestion here was that he used alcohol as an anesthetic to ease other problems, both physical and emotional. Like a typical alcoholic Poe swore off the substance numerous times only to be defeated by his overpowering addiction and extremely low tolerance to alcohol. Many times throughout Poe's life, "Doctors warned him that [alcohol] could be fatal to him, and he wept and swore that he would give it up for ever'" (Mankowitz 236). Though many times he did abstain from drinking, each time the vow was broken with more binges. On July 22, 1848, he wrote, "'It has been a long while since any artificial stimulus has passed my lips. I am done forever with drink" (Poe Letter 239). He promised many people, mainly Mrs. Clemm and Elmira Shelton, that he would not drink again (Mankowitz 239). He wrote to Mrs. Clemm exclaiming, "'For more than ten days I was totally deranged, although I was not drinking one drop" (Mankowitz 234). Most doctors agreed that Poe's alcoholism provoked an early death. Dr. Moran wrote Mrs. Clemm shortly after Poe's death and said it was "superinduced by strong drink" (Phillips 1507). Poe's addiction to alcohol was most likely complicated by severe depression, loneliness, an unloving foster father, and the sudden deaths of his real mother and wife. Whether Poe's addiction to alcohol was a major or minor factor physically in his death is unclear, but most agree that this addiction played an important part in Poe's death regardless.

Another addiction Edgar Allan Poe harbored was that to various drugs. The reasons behind this addiction range from his depression to his need for constant pain relief due to his heart and brain condition. Some indicate his addiction was not serious. For example, Hervey Allen writes, "From time to time at Fordham, he resorted to drugs, Rosalie Poe specifically mentions morphine" (739). Other drugs that Poe took habitually include opium and laudanum. During his final years when the effects of the brain lesion were especially intense, "pressures and pains drew [Poe] back to opium. In June [1849] he called on John Sartain in Philadelphia demanding laudanum, of which his tolerance was now enormous" (Mankowitz 229). He also built up a tolerance to opium; "his nerves and heart again in poor condition, and his opium dreams no longer inspiring him to write," left Poe depressed (Mankowitz 229). Laudanum was routinely administered to Poe on his death bed. Of course, though Poe was addicted to drugs during his lifetime, "'Poe was in that peculiar condition, a physical dilemma in fact, that few who have discussed his failings seem to realize, i.e., his failing heart required a stimulant which would be disastrous to his brain'" (Mankowitz 239). Unfortunately, unlike alcoholism, the habitual usage of such substances was almost unavoidable, making addiction inevitable. Ironically the drugs that eased Poe's pain mainly caused by erratic heartbeat and brain fevers also aided in his early death. Unfortunately, his addiction to these drugs contributed to depression as well.

After 1846, most of Poe's accounts are filled with references to a general decline in health. He wrote to Philip P. Cooke in April of 1846, "'I have been living in the country for the last two months (having been quite sick)'" (Poe Letter 227). Later that year he writes to Dr. Chivers, "'I have been for a long time dreadfully ill. I am getting better, however, although slowly, and shall get well" (Poe Letter 239). On August 7, 1849, the general illness Poe has been feeling becomes more well-defined. He writes, "'I have suffered worse than death--not so much from cholera as from its long continued consequences in debility and congestion of the brain--the latter, possibly, attributable to the calomel taken'" (Poe Letter 329). Calomel is a purgative. These general illnesses plagued Edgar Allan Poe until his final episode with "brain fever" in October of 1849.

Poe's most obvious and serious ailment begs for exploration: a brain lesion. Towards the end of 1847, "from a medical diagnosis...it also appears that [Poe's] heart was giving out, and that he was suffering from something akin to lesion of the brain" (Allen 739). At this point, to drink would have been Poe's death, but his pain was too great for him to overcome his addiction. "His heartbeat was erratic, and he complained to Annie of a headache that lasted for months. These symptoms, and the 'brain fever' from which he suffered from time to time, would seem to have been symptomatic of the lesion of the brain" (Mankowitz 229). Indeed, the autopsy and diagnosis after Poe's death by Dr. Hadel as printed in The Baltimore Sun on October 8, 1849, reveals that Poe's death was caused by congestion of the brain as well as cerebral inflammation, a disease known as encephalitis (Phillips 1508). Whether the brain lesion was independent of Poe's other problems or whether an escape through drugs and alcohol caused the brain lesion will never be known. His lifetime definitely showed instances where a brain tumor was the best explanation for Poe's peculiar behavior.

As to what actually happened in the last few days of Poe's life, no one really knows. There were five days that Poe's activities were questionable. The events of those days can only be speculated about by various people that claim to have seen Poe during that time. The final scene of Poe's life consisted of the days from September 29, 1849, until he was found October 3, 1849, in a half-conscious state. Some claim Poe, unintelligible, took a train to Philadelphia and was promptly returned to Baltimore. Others say Poe was dragged to various voting booths to vote for a group of politicians who took advantage of Poe's incoherent state in Baltimore. Regardless of what really happened, all critics agree that Poe was terminally ill, drunk, and feverish. After Dr. Snodgrass, a friends of Poe's, admitted him to the Washington Hospital Poe's condition declined. Poe died on Sunday, October 7, 1849.

The question still remains, what caused Poe's death ultimately? The events that transpired in the last week and a half of his life definitely contributed to his death. More than likely, a combination of depression, madness, alcoholism, drug abuse, erratic heart beat, and brain fever lead to his early death at the age of only forty. Which of these illnesses were caused by others will never be known, for they were all either causes or effects of an illness, and sometimes speculated as both.

Ironically, though Poe's life was plagued with illness, he developed a personal philosophy for the healthy life of an artist. Poe preaches:

Love, fame, the dominion of intellect, the consciousness of power, the thrilling sense of beauty, the free air of Heaven, exercise of body and mind, with the physical and moral health which result--these and such as these are really all that a poet cares for. (Mankowitz 228)