Essay Sample on Edgar Allan Poe's Death

Edgar Allan Poe’s death is still considered a great mystery even today. Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1809 in Boston to actors David and Elizabeth Poe. Poe’s father had abandoned Poe and after his mother died of tuberculosis the following year he was left to John and Frances Allan. He had joined the military after dropping out of school, due to Allan wasting their money gambling, where he had published his first collection, “Tamerlane and Other Poems”, and after failing as an officer cadet at West Point he declared himself a poet and writer. Poe had garnered himself a little fame, having had his story “The Raven” published in a newspaper, but was nowhere near as renowned as he is today. He started becoming seriously popular only after his untimely, mysterious death. There are arguments as to whether Poe had died of anything from being beaten to death to even dying of a brain tumor! Many ideas exist of how Poe died ranging from death by alcohol poisoning to being beaten up and left to die. Of all the possible ways Edgar Allan Poe could have died, the most supported idea is him having a brain tumor. Edgar Allan Poe was noted to be incredibly weak to alcohol and had a long history of alcohol abuse and then abstaining from alcohol. “It has been documented that after a glass of wine he was staggering drunk.” This quote was procured from “The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe” published by Natasha Geiling where she notes Poe, as well as his sister, was incredibly susceptible to alcohol. Signs also point to Poe having a brain tumor that might have caused such sensitivity to alcohol which could have lead to his death as he was described as being in a “delirious and semiconscious” state. This quote was also procured from “The (Still) Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe” published by Natasha Geiling where she had described Poe’s state having been found lying in a gutter, dressed in shabby clothes, and delirious, most likely from alcohol. Eyewitness reports also say that Poe was looking at and talking to invisible figures, this could be a side effect of heavy drinking while having such a low tolerance for alcohol. Poe had died in the hospital in fits of delirium and madness while calling an unknown name, “Reynolds”, where the doctors had recorded his death as brain swelling. His skull, when dug up much later after his death, had what sounded to be a round object tumbling around inside thought to be his brain at the time. But it would be impossible for soft tissue, like the brain, to have shrunken, harden, and remained instead of decomposing. A much better theory is the round object in Poe’s skull having been a small and calcified tumor, left over from when his brain decomposed. In the end, Poe’s death is still shrouded in mystery, one we cannot guarantee a correct answer to, but still rationalize answers from. While arguments of Poe’s death range from binge drinking, to being beaten, and even to suicide, only one answer makes the most sense. The most realistic cause of death for Edgar Allan Poe, would be a series of binge drinking, mixed with a brain tumor causing fever and delirium. It is almost shocking that he had made it so long without succumbing to tuberculosis which had plagued not one, but two women he was very close to. It is sad to see such a now renowned poet and author taken from this world at the young age of 40 during the peak of his career, but such is the way of life. Poe’s death may never be completely solved, but his death is not the focus, but instead it is the works of Poe which have been immortalized in modern society and culture letting Poe live on forever.