Researching Edgar Allen Poe for english and i came across an article stating that poe was emotionally unstable, had neroses,paraonia, megalomania. Can anyone confirm this???

thanks

-- Anonymous, March 22, 2003

Answers

No I do not think those are true statements about Poe. In "The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe" the introduction by Arthur Hobson Quinn states that he probably had some sort of brain tumor. He did have a genetic tendency to drink but tried to stay sober. He was a very notable literary critic and editor. Sincerely, Sue May at Aswyn Morgan Horse Farm

-- Anonymous, March 24, 2003

I think any real diseases stemmed from alcoholism pure and simple, just as it did in his father and brother before him. His maladies(he was otherwise athletic and resistant to sickness) came from poverty and symptoms of alcohol abuse(heart arrythmia and stoppages "beloved Physician", possibly hypoglycemia).

Now in the psychological realm Poe was NOT a moping melancholic 100% of the time, smoking dope and having fantastic visions. But human losses above and beyond that of his contemporaires without the supports he needed I think seem to stem from mother's death and other surrogates' deaths, his shock at losing Elmira Royster his fiancee. I would call it arrested then obssessed unrequited grieving. Getting his poetic inspiration from that isolated unfinished state symbolized what life was to him and where he found his deepest Muse. Possibly he rationalized his inability to write really long works and that he had some milder form of Baudelaire's problem.

-- Anonymous, March 24, 2003