Thursday, Jul 03, 2014

As is well known, Edgar Allan Poe was a classic diehard falling-down drunk, a real alcoholic.  (And the difference between an alcoholic and a REAL alcoholic is the difference between being dead & being REALLY dead).  The man couldn't stop drinking, and his behavior reflected that.  At age 27 he married his cousin Virginia.  She was 13.  Shortly after they set up house and his writing career started to take off, so did she, contracting tuberculosis and promptly dying.  In September of 1849 he disappeared from sight, going on a five-day bender.  Finally, he was picked up off the street, semi-conscious, drunk out of his mind, and wearing someone else's clothing.  He was immediately taken to Washington College Hospital where, delirious, he kept begging the attending doctor to blow his brains out.  At last, crying his eyes out and stinking of booze, he screamed out, "Lord, help my poor soul!"  Minutes later, he keeled over and died.