The influence of alcohol and drugs in Edgar Allan Poe’s life “Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dreamed before” (Edgar Allan Poe). Darkness and sadness are strong characteristics of Edgar Allan Poe’s writing. The tragedies during his life, such as the death of his biological and adoptive moms, followed by the death of his young wife Virginia were important factors which formed his gothic style. Poe is known for his drinking problems and use of drugs. Those habits had a big influence in his life and in his works. Family members, classmates, depression and disasters influenced Poe to use alcohol. The possibilities of Poe been an alcoholic increased …show more content…

The problems and pains that Poe felt were so hard for him to deal with that he used drugs to forget about all these trouble (Black, Jamee A. 7). Opium was the main drug used by Poe, it made him get it the dream-world (Hennelly, Mark M.10). While Poe was trying to get away from alcohol were times when he used uncontrolled amounts of Opium (Poe, Drug and Alcohol 2). The use of drugs, even for medical benefits, made him addicted to drugs and this is appointed as one of the cause of Poe’s death (Black, Jamee A.11). Poe’s works are a visible reflects of his life, history and habits, including the use of alcohol and drugs. Between the large amounts of Poe’s works written in first person is remarkable that couple of his fictions narrators admitted the use of Opium (Poe, Drugs and Alcohol 1). Roderick Usher, the narrator of the short story The Fall of the House of Usher, was a depressed man addicted to drugs which cause one of the strongest suspicions of bonds between Poe and his characters (Scharf, Douglas 4). He had a tendency for gothic style after all the tragedies during his life, and he appeared with an irregular behavior when related with women after the death of Virginia (Poe, Edgar Allan 6).An example of his personal life in his work is showed at the beginning of the poem The Raven when the narrator is reading a book to try to forget someone who he loved and that he lost. Passages of Poe’s stories and poems are