0:00 Introduction and shoutout
Welcome to Celebrate Poe. This is episode Eighty Four - Poe’s Alcoholism. The opening melody for this episode is said to be Edgar Allan Poe’s favorite song - Come Rest in This Bosom. This episode of Celebrtate Poe deals with Poe’s alcoholism - an often highly controversal topic - especially in how it may or may not have affected the writer’s works. I mentioned that I was doing this podcast to several friends, and got quite a favorable reaction. So I would like to extend a shoutout to Mike, Chris, John, Wes, and Rod - hope I got those names right.
Personal (backgroud) story
)):41 Before discussing Poe’s alcoholism, I’d like to talk about how alcoholism has affected my family. This is the first time I have ever written about the following, and is not mean as a “poor pitiful me” account, but as a background to delve into the subject of Poe’s alcoholism - to let you know how my thoughts and feelings about alcohol and alcoholism developed, and where I am coming from.
You see, years ago, I might mention something about Edgar Allan Poe to a friend, and that person’s face would instantly drop and they would say something like - oh - I learned in school Poe he was a very, very bad man because he was always drunk.
And I even remember one time mentioning to my mother something about Poe when she was washing the dishes. I remember that she stopped, and looked at me as though she wanted to cry. Please son, please don’t be like Poe - he drank lots of whiskey and hurt his family - and I love you very much.” I didn’t really know what she meant, and thought this was some kind of strange over reacting. And it wasn’t until years later that I understood what she was really saying.
I guess, like most high-schoolers, I considered myself a bit daring - but I always had the impression that there was something about this Edgar Allan Poe that made him - well - not acceptable to some people.
As a bit of background, my grandfather became an alcoholic and died in the local mental hospital. My grandfather and grandmother had sixteen children - they routinely had big families then! - and I believe more than half became alcoholics. One day my favorite aunt started drinking especially heavily - nothing unusal about that - took a bubble bath - passed out - and drowed - imagine the reaction of her son when he came home from school at the sight of his mother’s body in the tub.
On my mother’s side, the story is told that my grandfather got drunk one night, and bet the deed to his home and farm in a poker game. He lost his home and farm - so times were very hard for his wife and six children - at least one became a practicing alcoholic.
Whenever I go to the doctor and he or she asks about my medical history, I have to tell them that i really don’t know. It seemed that the generation before me in the South - in my family - NEVER talked about their health - it was just accepted tha you reach 40 or 50 and after living a life where you drank constantly, you started feeling pain. And then you drink more to mask the pain. and frequently die from alcohol related causes.
I had a rather happy childhood - my father was a railroad engineer, and was extremely creative. He installed and ran a miniature train in the city park that has provided joy to thousands of children over the years - but as I got older, I began to realize that my father was falling into the same alcoholic trap as his father. He was constantly drunk. He became quite a “control freak” - when my sister got married, he gave her the land beside his home so he could visit everyday and spend hours drinking with my sister and her husband.
He died of alcohol related causes and my sister and brother-in-law started drinking more. If any of you have ever seen the movie “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ - well multiple the screaming matches between Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor times 50, and you have an idea of what it was like. My brother died of an alcohol related disease, and my sister - once a highly respected rehabilitation counselor - suffered an alcohol related stroke. On a good day, she is now barely able to utter one word.
I wish there was something I could do - to be able to talk to my sister - but maybe all this can be of help to someone - there IS help out there, and if this podcast episode helps one person overcome addiction, then my efforts have been more than worth it.
I began going to Al-Anon.
By the way, I ended up cutting a great deal of this section out. I could go on and on talking about the pain and financial struggles in my family caused by alcohol, but this podcast is about Edgar Allan Poe. And besides, some of the people who may have been affected may be still alive.
So I look back now, and see when my mother told me, “Please don’t be like Poe. He drank lots of whiskey and hurt his family. - well it was her way of saying, please, son - don’t drink alcohol - you can’t tolerate alcohol and drinking can destroy your life.” She certainly felt and lived the pain in her husband and father.
The reason I am mentioning this is that it was only when I looked at Poe’s complicated relationship with alcohol that I could begin to understand the substance abuse in my family. And it was only when I began to understand how and why Poe used alcohol - that I found began to find peace. While many of the same dynamics are involved in the addiction of any substance (even though the times were quite different) I guess with Poe I was able to look at the situation far more objectively. With my family I was far too close.
Well, years later - as you may remember from my first episode - I was turned down by the Apple Store in Richmond when I applied. I then applied at the Poe Museum - and certainly didn’t think about Poe as not acceptable because of any alcohol use - I needed a job!
07:48 Poe’s alcoholism
And when I started this podcast, I stayed away from really talking about Poe’s alcoholism at first.
Then I started rereading an excellent book about Poe’s life called Evermore: Edgar Allan Poe and the Mystery of the Universe that deals with such areas as Poe’s understanding of suffering, love, beauty, justice, and unity. I had read the book before, and was incredibly impressed. But this time, in addition to the text, I read the notes at the back of the book. You know you like a book when you are fascinated by its footnotes. By the way, the author is Dr. Harry Lee Poe, a professor at Union University, head of the Poe Foundationn, author of several books on C.S. Lewis, as well as Edgar Allan Poe, and a distant cousin to Edgar Allan Poe himself!
The notes in Evermore really blew me away - they read, “Drinking has proven to be a gamble for the family. My grandfather’s generation included three alcoholics among five children, plus serveral of his first cousins who were alcoholic. Only one child in the previous generation ever drank, and he was an alcoholic My great-great-grandfather William Poe wrote to Edgar, warning him of the family curse. For an alcoholic, the warning comes too late once the drinking has begun.”
It was as though I knew it was time to use that information in a podcast episode - if I could get permission. I was emotionally ready to talk about the subject. Before, my thoughts were all over the place.
Communication with Dr. Poe
So I found Dr. Poe’s email address from the website of the college where he teaches, and wrote:
Dr. Poe:
As way of introduction, my name is George Bartley, and I used to be a guide at Poe Museum in Richmond about 20 years ago. I then worked for the West Virginia Humanities Council traveling around the state doing historical presentations as Edgar Poe. Currently I do a podcast called “Celebrate Poe” about the “life, times, and influences of America’s Shakespeare - Edgar Allan Poe.”
I started the podcast a year ago, and have had 1,208 downloads in 52 countries - from what I understand that is considered rather good for an educational podcast. This weekend, I am doing a podcast about Poe’s alcoholism - a very personal one because many people in my family are alcoholics. I talk about my experiences, and point out that doing research into Poe’s relationship to substances that were harmful for him led me to a sense of peace and acceptance in dealing with the chaos in my family.
Anyway, I have read your book Evermore several times (I think it is one of the best books I have ever read) and am extremely eager to deal with Eureka in my podcast - tho I can see now that is going to take a lot of work. I am asking your permission to use item 13 in the Notes section at the back of Evermore (the section where you mention alcoholism in some of your ancestors.) The main reason I am asking is that I am a stickler regarding confidentiality when it comes to anything - even a mention - of substance abuse. I assumed that it might be ok to mention in a podcast (and of course give me a chance to mention you and your book!) but I just wanted to be sure.
Sorry for the length of this email, but I wanted to be thorough.
Have a great day!
George Bartley
And at the end I included the following - By the way, perhaps we could set up an audio interview in the future -- just consider this an open invitation. And then I clicked SEND.
At that moment, I knew I was sabattoging myself - it hit me that I really should not have asked him to do an interview - he was a very busy man who speaks all over the world.
But a few hours later, I got this reply:
Dear George;
Thank you for your note and your continuing interest in Poe. May you have many fulfilling years with your podcast. I am happy for you to quote the endnote. My great-great-grandfather William Poe wrote to his cousin Edgar to warn him of the “family curse.” Alcoholism appears to be a disorder to which some people are genetically pre-disposed. It has run in my family for centuries. Poe’s case was particularly awful, because he was also allergic to alcohol. James Russell Lowell said that a thimble full would render Poe virtually insensible, so he was not a binge drinker, but gave the impression of being one.
I would love to join you some time for a conversation.
All the best,
Hal
By that point, I was walking on air. And I sent this reply to Dr. Poe - I feel funny saying Hal.
Dr. Poe
Thank you so much for your email - if it is ok with you, I would like to use some of the info you sent me. Of course, I really want to do a good job on this episode because the image of Poe as a “hopeless drunk” is an image that far too many people have regarding Poe.
By the way, I had a professor at the American Shakespeare Center (unfortunately he is no longer living) who was from the UK and studied at Oxford under Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. (Note here - Dr. Poe has also studied at Oxford.) This professor told the class that we would be able to say to future classes that we studied under Tolkien and Jack Lewis, once removed - referring to how educators are influenced by those who teach them, and how that influence has a ripple effect that extends to any future student.
Again, thanks,
George
I just thought that last bit about Tolkein and Lewis was a cool story.
15:18 James Russell Lowell
Now just a word about James Russell Lowell - Celebrate Poe will have a full episode about him in the future - hopefully next year - but James Russell Lowell was a professor at Harvard, United States diplomat to Spain and later Great Britain, beloved New England writer, and founded a literary journal called The Pioneer. The journal only lasted for three issues, but has become famous because in the first issue Edgar Poe pubished one of his most popular stories - The Tell Tale Heart.
The first issue of the Pioneer published in January 1843 by James Russell Lowell is the only publication of The Tell Tale Heart that begins with these four lines by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, thou stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
Notice how the story is set up in 9 short lines -
True - Nervous, very very dreadfully nervous,
I had been and am
But why will you say that I am mad.
The disease had sharpened my senses - not destroyed - not dulled them,
Above all was the sense of hearing acute,
I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth,
I could see many things in hell,
How then am I mad?
Harken! and observe how healthily - how calmly I can tell you the whole story.
MUSICAL TRANSITION
17:37 Poe and alcoholism as an infant and child
The reason it seemed that today was a good time to talk about Poe’s alcoholism from a chronological standpoint was because many scholars believe that the writer’s alcoholism started when he is a baby. In the early 19th century, babies were routinely given alcohol and laudunum - that would definitely knock them out. We can’t say we have documentation that the infant Poe was specifically given alcohol and laudumun - but there is a high likelihood that the combination was given to keep him quiet.
There is considerable controversy on the exact effect of heredity regarding alcohol - in other words, if one or both parents are alcoholics, does that always mean that you have more of a tendency to become an alcoholic? True, Edgar Poe’s father, David Poe, was definitely a practicing alcoholic and deserted the family before young Edgar had a chance to know his father. Edgar Poe’s brother Henry Leonard eventually lived in Baltimore with his aunt Maria, was an alcoholic, and Henry died when he was just twenty four.
19:01 Drinking at the University of Virginia and Army
One time when we do have documentation of Edgar Poe’s early drinking was when he attended the University of Virginia. Poe, like most students attending collee for the first time, had that heady feeling that he was away from the control of his parents for the first time. In an environment like the University of Virginia during its second year, the men (women were not allowed in the college yet) started getting into all kinds of trouble. There was a great deal of gambling, fighting, pistol fights, and of course, drinking. In a letter from Thomas Goode Tucker to Douglas Sherley on April 5, 1880, Thomas Tucker wrote ““Poe would seize a full glass, without water or sugar, and send it home at a single gulp. This frequently used him up.”
It appears that Poe DID drink in college - and even then a small amount could devastate him - but we are not certain how much Poe would drink. In 1868, William Wertenbaker noted that “I often saw him in the Lecture room and in the library, but never in the slightest degree under the influence of intoxicating liquors. Among the Professors he had the reputation of being a sober, quiet and orderly young man.”
Note that these comments were made more than several decades after the fact, so there is some question about their reliability.
A bit more reliable - possibly - are the three letters of recommendation that Poe was given when he left the army in 1829. A Lieutenant J. Howard noted “His habits are good, and intirely [sic] free from drinking.” A Captain H. B. Griswold said that Poe was “exemplary in his deportment” and Lt. Colonel W. J. Worth said that Poe “appears to be free from bad habits”
But other sources claim that Poe began drinking again once he entered West Point. Timothy P. Jones recalled that Poe “was certainly given to extreme dissipation within a very short time after he entered school.” A Thomas W. Gibson gave the statement in 1867 that “I don‘t think he was ever intoxicated while at the Academy, but he had already acquired the more dangerous habit of constant drinking.” However, Jones was later found guilty of gross neglect of his academic and military duties, and Gibson was later found guilty of setting fire to a building near the barracks. So, according to The Poe Log, they were both court-martialed and dismissed from West Point by 1832. Also note that Jones recorded his recollections in 1903. This was over seventy years after their days at West Point.
TRANSITION
22:50 eap.org
Now one source that has been incredibly helpful - with one of the easiest URLs to remember - eap.org - tho you might have to type www in front of the eap.org The site is a huge collection of information about eap - in other words, Edgar Allan Poe. In my opinion, the site is the best collection of scholarly material on the web - it has a gigantic collection of all - and I do mean - all of Poe’s known prose and poetical writings, And if you are so interested, the works are not only from the original sources, but the multiple versions as revised during his lifetime. This includes poems, tales, sketches, essays, literary criticism, and letters. The site is well-organized, and materials are relatively easy to find on the site (especially considering the incredible amount of information included) Not surprisingly, the site does not include some of the newer research or books written about Poe, but it does include many of the classics in the public domain - basically before 1923. For example, it has the full text of Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography - often considered the standard biography of Poe - a book that may be a bit dated,and was written by Arthur Hobson Quinn, a skilled scholar who really knew what he was doing. And the site has also has the complete text of The Poe Log: A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Dwight R. Thomas and David K. Jackson — a collection that uses historical documents and statements to protray Poe’s life in a chronological order. IAnd the site goes on and on with all kinds of scholarly articles, areas of Poe’s life, and information about his works and influences. f you’ve listened to Celebrate Poe before, you’ve probably heard me frequently list The Poe Log and Quinn’s biography as sources.
25:28 Letters to and from William Poe
For example, on the site I found the text to the four letters that were exchanged between William Poe - the descendant of Harry Lee Poe - and Edgar Allan Poe. Got that - William Poe was Dr. Harry Lee Poe’s great-grandfather. In a letter written in Richmond on Aug 20, 1835, Edgar Allan Poe spends almost three pages describing his ancestry - his family - and relations - this was after (spoiler alert) John Allan disinherited him. He points out that John Allan left him nothinng, and he asked for money.
Poe also wrote a letter to William Poe in 1840 requesting some help regarding the publication of a magazine.
Finally, in 1843, William Poe wrote a letter to Poe congratulating him on recieving a prize for the writer’s story, The Gold Bug - and hinting that now that he has some money he hopes Edgar Poe’s financial situation will improve. Specifically, William Poe writes, There is one thing I am anxious to caution you against, & which has been a great enemy to our family, I hope, however, in yr case, it may prove unnecessary, “A too free use of the Bottle.” Too many & especially Literary Characters, have sought to drown their sorrows & disappointments by this means, but in vain, and only, when it has been too late, discovered it to be a deeper source of misery — But enough of this say you, & so say I, therefore hoping this may find you in better spirits & better prospects of future happiness, I subscribe myself
Yrs affectionately
William Poe
27:50 Future episodes on Poe and alcoholism
So this episode is really an introduction to the complex subject of Poe’s use of alcohol and, to a much lesser extent, his use of drugs. His future use of harmful substances was largely intermittent - in contrast to many of the protrayals in the public media - he was not a binge drinker. There is no way that Edgar Poe could have been drunk and written such masterful literary works with their complex structure, carefully constructed sentences, and flowing language.
In future episodes, Celebrate Poe will certainly not shy away from Poe’s occasional use of alcohol. I think it is fair to say that he was NOT a binge drinker, but his body’s extreme reaction to alcohol made its use a problem.
I could go on and on talking about how incidents involving drugs and alcohol affected Poe’s career and personality - and in many cases those were IMAGINED incidents based on personal opinion, faulty memory, or even professional jealousy from other writers and editors.
Alcoholism was a problem that chased Poe throughout his life, and could take hours for this podcast to deal with - but I think it is a great deal more useful to trace the ebbs and flows of Poe’s use of alcohol and drugs in specific situations as they come up. For example, to save a discussion of the effects of alcohol on Poe’s work at a specific magazine - the Southern Liteary Messenger for example - when this podcast talks about Poe’s work at that magazine in general.
MUSiCAL TRANSITION
Poe and Sons of Temperance
On August 27, of 1849, Poe was initiated into the Sons of Temperance, Shockoe Hill Division, in Richmond. You can think of the Sons of Temperance as a precursor or forerunner to Alcoholics Anonymous - except the Sons of Temperance paid a greater attention to the financial situation of their members - the Sons of Temperance required a two dollar initiation fee - in those days that was equal to a week’s salary - so it would seem to me that Poe, with his limited financies, had to be serious about joining and following through. The Sons of Temperance eventually paid your funeral expenses, so they were very concerned about your health and the circumstances of your eventual demise. According to James A. Harrison in the Biography section of The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, a W. J. Glenn, an officer of the Sons of Temperance, said ““the statement was made and too busily circulated that Poe’s death was the result of a spree commenced as soon as he reached Baltimore. We of the temperance order to which he belonged exerted ourselves to get at the facts, and the consensus of opinion was that he had not been drinking, but had been drugged.” When I read about the Sons of Temperance and the strong bond that they routinely develop regarding the welfare of each other, it became apparent that these were people who were really concerned about keeping up with Poe’s health. In my opinion, they are about the closest that we will come to knowing what may or may not have killed Edgar Allan Poe.
To further complicate matters - and there always is a complication - is a report from Bishop O. P. Fitzgerald compiled in The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe by Thomas Mabbott. Bishop Fitzgerald claimed that Poe attended a birthday party in Baltimore. Poe wanted to be courteous, and decided that it would be rude to refuse a toast to the hostess. And you know what even a single drink could do to Poe. So we really don’t know if alcohol was a factor in the writer’s death.
In 1841, Poe wrote “At no period of my life was I ever what men call intemperate. . . . My sensitive temperament could not stand an excitement which was an everyday matter to my companions. In short, it sometimes happened that I was completely intoxicated. For some days after each excess I was invariably confined to bed. But it is now quite four years since I have abandoned every kind of alcoholic drink — four years, with the exception of a single deviation . . . when I was induced to resort to the occasional use of cider, with the hope of relieving a nervous attack.”
And I think that he admitted the “single deviation” when he did not have to, speaks well of his honesty.
Conclusion
When thinking about those words that Poe used to speak of his alcoholism, I felt as though the ideas were something my extremely creative father would have said about his drinking but was unable to admit.
I am reminded of the quote by the great playwright, Robert Anderson from the drama “I Never Sang for My Father.”
- “Death ends a life, but not a relationship.”
In summary, let me conclude by saying that we don’t know EXACTLY the effects that alcohol had on Poe in all situations, but I think it is fair to say that:
1) Alcoholism ran in Poe’s family.
2) Poe was devastated by even a small amount of alcohol.
3) Alcohol was a problem for Poe - though the extent of his use was probably overstated.
4) One’s reaction to Poe’s drinking was often based more on the accuser’s personal opinion or situation, faulty memory, or even professional jealousy. The actual facts were often ignored.
Future podcasts
Today this podcast episode has looked at Poe and his alcoholism - so I think that before we get further into Poe’s life, it would be appropriate to look at what is usually considered the most traumatic event in his childhood - a trauma that was to affect many of his greatest works.
Sources
Sources for this episode include Evermore by Dr. Harry Lee Poe: Edgar Allan Poe and the Mystery of the Universe, Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography by Arthur Hobson Quinn, The Poe Log: A Documentary Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Dwight R. Thomas and David K. Jackson,, The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe by T. O. Mabbott, ed., Poe and Place by Phillip Edward Phillips, and
And why not visit my podcast web site at celebratepoe.buzzsprout.com - click on the episode you want to learn more about to see its show notes and a transcript.
Outro
Well, thank you very much for making it this far, as we take a deep dive into the life, works, and influences of America’s Shakespere - Edgar Allan Poe.
As usual, this podcast began and ends with the melody of Come Rest in This Bosom - said to be Edgar Allan Poe’s favorite song.
Thank you for listening to Celebrate Poe.