Edgar Allan Poe Essay Essays Edgar Allan Poe Essay Essay Edgar Allan Poe Essay Essay The American Face of Edgar Poe (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995). Now at this point of time, it was said that Poe died of congestion of the brain. However, his actual cause of death was the subject of endless speculation. There are some experts that believe alcoholism was the cause of his death. However, others came up with alternative theories for example, Rabies, Epilepsy, Carbon Monoxide Poisoning are Just some of the few conditions thought to have led to the writers death. Now shortly after his passing, Edgar Allan Poes reputation was very badly damaged by his literary adversary whose name was Rufus Griswold. He was sharply criticized by Poe, took Ellis 3 his revenge in his obituary of Poe, portraying the gifted yet troubled writer as a mentally deranged drunk and a womanizer. He also penned the first biography of Poe, which helped cement some of these misconceptions in the publics minds.
