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Dementia essay vulnerability
Dementia essay vulnerability
Edgar allen poe mental state
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Edgar Allan Poe’s Dementia
Several aspects of Edgar Allan Poe’s life are well known because of his popularity in American literature. Commonly known facts include, but are not limited to knowing that Poe greatly influenced the horror genre of writing, published many famous poems, and that he is credited with creating detective-fiction. One aspect of his life, however, is not as common. Poe suffered from a cognitive disorder presently known as dementia, which, in Poe’s case, worsened throughout his life. This had a negative effect on many aspects of Poe’s health, but his condition did help contribute to the stories and poems he created. Edgar Allan Poe’s progressive dementia influenced his gothic mind, which he set and used as a starting point for his many literary works.
Dementia is a disease that affects the brain’s function of thinking and behavior, and in some cases language and judgment. The disease was proven to interfere with the ability to control emotions and behavior, which explains Poe’s self-destructive mind that lead to his attempt of suicide preceding his wife, Virginia’s, death.(NINDS 1) Poe’s dementia was progressive, meaning that his condition worsened throughout his life. A combination of Poe’s drinking habits and a manic depression could have contributed to this. The slight differences in Poe’s writing demonstrate the progression of mental decline. For example, his writing progresses from his early writing’s appreciation of tragic mysteries of life to an almost pure obsession of death.(Merriman 1)
It is said that, after the death of Virginia, Poe turned to the use of alcohol more frequently and his behavior became more erratic. Drinking large amounts of alcohol increases the risk fa...
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...Web. 29 Nov. 2011. .
Bloom, Harold. Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Chelsea House, 1985. Print.
Canada, Mark. "Edgar Allan Poe." The University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Canada's America, 1997. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. .
"Dementia: Hope Through Research." National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). National Institute of Neurological Disroders and Stroke, 23 Mar. 2011. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. .
Merriman, C. D. "Edgar Allan Poe - Biography and Works. Search Texts, Read Online. Discuss." The Literature Network: Online Classic Literature, Poems, and Quotes. Essays & Summaries. Jalic Inc., 2006. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. .
Kennedy, Gerald J. A Historical Guide to Edgar Allan Poe. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2001
Scientist had thought that Poe had a severe case of the flu, which is right but it is now known as Encephalitis and Meningitis. Poe’s symptoms are similar to rabies to but there is an explanation for that. Poe did have rabies, which later on progressed into an illness that had spread into his blood. Encephalitis can be caused by rabies from any animal including insects like mosquitos. By the facts that we know, rabies do not have to show a bite-mark, not all of them are visible to human eye, so therefor Poe could have had rabies. How likely is to get bitten from a tick or a mosquito out in the wilderness traveling? It is very likely so Poe did have rabies, but he didn’t die of rabies he died from encephalitis or meningitis. Twenty-six years later after Poe had died they had decided to honor Poe by making a monument for him. When they had reburied him they had found a chunk of his brain (or a lump), scientist had found out that brain tumors don’t decay. A tumor is swelling of the body caused by abnormal growth of tissue. The swollen brain would be an explanation for this because meningitis and encephalitis is a bacterial disease that affects the brain and the spinal cord. Another reason people believe Poe died was from alcoholism. Joseph Walker thought Poe was drunk and had consumed too much alcohol. Yes Poe was found outside of a bar, but you don’t have to go to a bar to just drink. Also impaired judgment is a symptom to meningitis and encephalitis, which can explains why Poe had looked drunk. We know that Poe was an alcoholic before, so we can state that Poe could have had some drinks before hand and had made his sickness progress. People with alcoholism are at more high risk when they get meningitis or encephalitis, which could even cause death. If Poe had been drinking while he had contacted rabies and had gotten meningitis or encephalitis this is
Faculty of Arts and Humanities Department of European Languages and Literature Rana Al-Ghalib 1700871 Short Story LANE – 615 Final Paper Schizophrenia and Poe Outline Abstract Schizophrenia Schizophrenia in The Life and Work of Poe Schizophrenia Represented in The Fall of The House of Usher ConclusionAbstract Edgar Alan Poe is one of the major contributors to the literary canon. He was allegedly suffering from a mental disorder. His own psyche was said to be an inspiration for many of his works.
New York: A.C. Armstrong & Son., 1884. xv-xxvi. EPUB file. Sova, Dawn B. "Poe, Edgar Allan.
Meyers, J. (1992). Edgar Allan Poe: his life and legacy. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons Frank, F. S. (1997). The Poe encyclopedia. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press..
Ingram, John Henry. Edgar Allan Poe: His Life, Letters, and Opinions. New York: AMS Press, Inc., 1965.
Poe’s frightening stories acts as helpful inspiration for entertainment in the present, and for many years to come. The timeless relevance of his work, and its merciless scrutiny of the human condition, solidifies its place in history and its position of high admiration. In conclusion, the extraordinary-fleeting-tragic life of Edgar Allan Poe will forever remain on record as the tale of an orphan, a gentleman, a soldier, and one of the most prominent literary figures in American history.
Thomson, Gary Richard, and Poe Edgar. The selected writings of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Norton & Company, 2004
Edgar Allan Poe was the epitome of a tormented genius. He possessed uncontrollable and self-inflicted internal problems. In addition, Poe was plagued by external difficulties—some preventable, some not. Most doctors today would pronounce Poe to be bipolar, chronically depressed, and perhaps even OCD. Most people today, and any day, would declare Poe to be self-obsessed and arrogant, or—at the least—snobbish. His personal life would also be considered less than ideal, though how much he was personally responsible for is still unknown (Hutchisson 19). Art, however, often springs from controversy and instability. In fact, Jacqueline Langwith, editor of Perspective on Disease & Disorders: Mood Disorders, notes that “creativity appears to be associated with mental illness” (Langwith 8). Furthermore, remarkably few artists had anything short of incredible—especially incredibly difficult—lives. Poe suffered from internal “handicaps” and an interesting life, both of which showed up in his unique writing. Edgar Allan Poe's mental disorders, pride, and negative relationships within his family are reflected in “The Cask Of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale heart,” and gave them their characteristic qualities.
Edgar Allan Poe was a man considered by many to be the personification of Death. He is regarded as a true American Genius whose works seized and frightened the minds of millions. However, Poe greatly differed from other acclaimed authors of his time. He had a unique writing style that completely altered the reality surrounding his readers. Rather than touch their hearts with lovable fictional characters he found a way of expressing himself that no other author had at the time. Poe’s combination of demented genius and difficult past experiences led him to become one of the greatest writers of all time.
Edgar Allan Poe is known for his many works that are dark and mysterious. He became known as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe had a dark, troubled life growing up. Both his biological parents died when he was a young boy and was separated from his siblings when another family adopted him. His foster father was in the tobacco industry, but Poe did not want to be involved in that business. He wanted to write. He went to college with very little money. He was so embarrassed by his poverty that he came back home, only to find that his fiancée got engaged to someone else in his absence. He left again, before finding out that the only mother he had ever known was dying of tuberculosis. By the time he returned she had already been buried. Allan, his foster father, helped Poe get into the United States Military Academy at West Point. Allan remarried and did not invite Poe. Poe was angry and wrote Allan detailing all the wrongs Allan had committed against him and threatened to get himself kicked out of the academy. Poe’s wife got tuberculosis, which had already taken the lives of his mother, brother, and foster mother.Because Poe had such a dark, difficult life, he used his poems to reflect his life.
Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1991. book.
“Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest of intelligence,” Edgar Allan Poe. Poe is famous in the writing world and has written many amazing stories throughout his gloomy life. At a young age his parents died and he struggled with the abuse of drugs and alcohol. A great amount of work he created involves a character that suffers with a psychological problem or mental illness. Two famous stories that categorize Poe’s psychological perspective would be “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Both of these stories contain many similarities and differences of Poe’s psychological viewpoint.
I am writing in response to the articles regarding Edgar Allen Poe’s death that were published by Dr. Michael Benitez on September 15, 1996 and by Burton R. Pollin and Robert E. Benedetto on September 23, 1996. Dr. Benitez proposes that Poe’s died from rabies, while Pollin and Benedetto argue that Poe’s death was caused by alcoholism.
Throughout Edgar Allan Poe’s life, death was a frequent visitor to those he loved around him. When Poe was only 3 years old, his loving mother died of Tuberculosis. Because Poe’s father left when he was an infant, he was now an orphan and went to live with the Allan’s. His stepmother was very affectionate towards Edgar and was a very prominent figure in his life. However, years later she also died from Tuberculosis, leaving Poe lonely and forlorn. Also, later on, when Poe was 26, he married his cousin 13-year-old Virginia, whom he adored. But, his happiness did not last long, and Virginia also died of Tuberculosis, otherwise known as the Red Death, a few years later. After Virginia’s death, Poe turned to alcohol and became isolated and reckless. Due to Edgar Allan Poe’s loss of those he cared for throughout his life, Poe’s obsession with death is evident in his works of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Black Cat”, and “The Fall of the House of Usher”, in which in all three death is used to produce guilt.