So here's Edgar Allan Poe amongst the cherubim and seraphim of some pleasantly flowered celestial gazebo, nodding out, nearly napping, when suddenly there comes a . . . tapping. As of someone gently . . . rapping. And it's a couple of spiritualists come calling on him, live from a Chicago theater, on the 148th anniversary of Mr. Poe's demise. Could they have a minute? The departed Mr. Poe turns out to be a crotchety fellow who does not gladly suffer this intrusion. "He's waving his cane back and forth!" one of the spiritualists cries. But he agrees to chat just long enough to clear up an enduring literary mystery: No, dammit, he did not die the drink-ruined sot of fabulous legend and lore, foaming at his wretched mouth in a mad alcoholic stupor; he was murdered, poisoned by a jealous colleague is what; of course he foamed at the mouth. And at this point the old fusspot gets so worked up that he chases his visitors away, but there at last is authoritative revelation from none but Mr. Poe himself.

And mere days later comes word that Dylan Thomas did not in fact go drunken into his own good grave either. The Welsh poet, according to a new biography, was just a diabetic, victim of an inattentive sawbones who misdiagnosed his coma.

News that Mr. Poe and Mr. Thomas have been so misrepresented all these years throws starry-eyed romantics everywhere into a funk: If two of the greatest roaring lushes of all time can't drink themselves to death, who can?
Copyright of U.S. News & World Report is the property of US News & World Report, Inc. and its content may not be copied without the copyright holder's express written permission except for the print or download capabilities of the retrieval software used for access. This content is intended solely for the use of the individual user.

||| Poetry | Edgar Allan Poe | Home | Young American Poets | Emily Dickinson Page | Poetry Links | Anonymous Poetry | Children's Poetry | How to talk about a Poem | How to talk about a short story | Links | Joke | JavaScripts | Home | Send comments about this page to erin@cswnet.com ||| Sign Guestbook |||