Please help I need to know by Tuesday. Was Edgar Allen Poe ever admitted to a mental insitution? If so which one? Thanks!

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001

Answers

NO

-- Anonymous, February 12, 2001

Actually, yes! he was sent to a mental institution, they planned for about 3 years. However, they let him out after 1 1/2 years. I do not know which institution it was, but i know he was in one.

If you have any questions, email me.

P.S. Several critics said poe was "3/5 Genius and 2/5 mad!"

-- Anonymous, April 24, 2001

I don't really know if it's worth replying to the above, but here goes anyway...

No, Poe was never institutionalised, and I can't believe that anyone really thinks that. Deliberately spreading false information on this site is not helpful to anyone, even if it such a ludicrous statement as this.

Also, the quotation that is referred to does not claim Poe was mad. It is from Lowell's 1848 poem, 'A Fable for Critics' and the line reads (quotation from memory):

"Here comes Poe with his raven, like Barnaby Rudge, Three-fifths sheer genius, two-fifths sheer fudge."

Speculation is all very well, but please respect people who seek information enough not to lie to them

-- Anonymous, April 25, 2001

hey Tia! its me! Im reading the cask of amontillado and its weird...so hows dan and all them? Well, i hope you get a straight answer!

Your cousin, lindsey!!!

-- Anonymous, February 21, 2002

hey this is lindseys friend! i think he was...he was nuts....look it up

-- Anonymous, February 21, 2002

Excuse me, but first of all, people, this is not a chat site, so do it somewhere else. Secondly, I did a research paper on Poe, and he was NEVER institutionalized! Why don't you people actually do some of your own research and not ask stupid questions. There is no evidence that he was even crazy. Have you read some of his actual essays which are not fictional? The man seems perfectly sane, and besides, what do you base that he is crazy on? Lots of sane people have screwed up lives like him, and lots of normal people also write weird things, so it doesn't mean he's crazy.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2002

Looks like kmsPrincess should be PmsPrincess!!! ha HAAAA!

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2002

You guys are nerds.

That's all.

-- Anonymous, September 22, 2002

ok, first off who cares if poe was in a nut house, hes dead now.. your all nerds.. hahahahahahahahaha DOTS!!!!

-- Anonymous, November 28, 2002

Several well-loved and revered poets through history were often institutionalised and later took their own lives. I write poetry (not to brag, it doesn't come close to being in Edgar's league) and I feel pretty whacked sometimes, and those are exactly the times I feel explosively creative. For his time era, I think Edgar was very advanced. Maybe being just a little touched can be a bonus for writers???..........who knows, just speculation on my part!

-- Anonymous, January 19, 2003

lol yall are some freaky a$$ peeps lol

-- Anonymous, February 17, 2003

Judging by the self-contradictory nature of elements to some of his stories (the fall of the House of Usher springs to mind), and the bipolar tendancies of many of Poe's characters (Montresor, Usher being "alternatively vivacious and sullen"), as well as the general tone of his work, I personally believe that EAP was a manic depressive. Bipolar Disorder is more than ten times as common among creative types than the general population, and I think Poe fit this description to a "T". But he was never instituionalized.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2003

No he was not admmitted to a mental instution. Poe was sane as can be minus the lesions on his brain and such...Poe was normal. Other then that, he had a serious alchohal problem and he could have been acting weird.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 2003

i beleive that poe is the best writer that has ever lived. If poe was institutionalized so be it. he has written the best poems and short stories throughout his time and all of us are still reading them in our own time. So to make a long story short shut up and keep reading his work

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2003

Poe was a drug taker. Frequent in hullucinagenics that could make you act "insane", but he was far from it. Traumatized through-out his enire life, I'd write about death and stuff too, if I had to go through what he did. He was not institutionalized, nor was he "insane". He did have mental disorders, but he was indeed quite sane.He acted how he felt, which was obvioius drear. I hope I helped.

-- Anonymous, November 25, 2003

Poe's half sister Rosalie died in Washington in a charitable institution run by a local church. Perhaps that's why people think the great writer was similarly disposed. He was actually sober when he came to Washington to lecture and meet the President but unfortunately returned to alcohol at a party when he first arrived here. Apparently one drink sent him on a downward spiral. The lecture was cancelled and he disgraced himself during his White House visit.A great man fallen on hard times- very sad story. His genius in creating the matrix of the modern detective tale and the most frightening stories ever penned is unparalleled.

I stumbled across this site quite by accident. Very interesting discussion.

Sincerely,

NZ

-- Anonymous, December 07, 2003

no he wasnt and if yall want to chat to yall cosins and family buy a stamp and sit your lazy self down and wrie a letter

-- Anonymous, April 20, 2004

all of you guys are dumb.Poe was my great great grandfather and i think i would know if he was retarded or not. and he was institutionalized or however you spell it. so whoever needs and answer here it is. YES HE WAS INSANE AND INSTITUTIONALIZED!!!!

-- Anonymous, September 10, 2004

u all r fucking gay who gives a shit about the muther fucker he's dead bitches

-- Anonymous, December 14, 2004