The “Lord help my poor soul” (Hurley). These are the final words of Edgar Allan Poe as he lay dying in a hospital bed. His words have left people fumbling about his cause of death for centuries. Poe was born into the world on January 19, 1809, as part of a family passionate about the arts. He cherished them as well and published his first poem in 1827. At the age of one, his father left his family, and a year later, his mother passed away from tuberculosis. Poe was placed into a foster family, where his foster father believed him to be ungrateful for everything his family had done for him. By the age of 17, Edgar Allan had started to abuse alcohol and had acquired a bit of debt. Around the age of 35, he first started gaining recognition for …show more content…
The author states, “Poe attempted to get sober several times in his life but always returned to the bottle” (The Strange Life Of Edgar Allan Poe). This shows it is plausible that he was drinking alcohol the night he fell into the ditch. 70% of alcoholics end up relapsing after they attempt to get sober, which Poe has done multiple times. Edgar Allan Poe had already broken his oath of abstinence numerous times and did not seem to care much about staying sober. The author also mentioned, “To optimize the numbing effect of the alcohol, Edgar would mix absinthe, with its high alcohol content, with brandy and other drinks” (The Strange Life Of Edgar Allan Poe). The possibility of a relapse is even higher when other drug use is included in the addict’s life. With proof of Poe’s fondness for mixing his drug forms, it is even more likely that his death was alcohol related and most likely a relapse. All things considered, seeing how he was a frequent binge drinker and enjoyed combining drugs with his drinks, adds to the evidence that his death was caused by alcohol. Some people say that Edgar Allan Poe died from complications of alcohol due to a great deal of evidence pointing towards this