Did edgar allen poe have a great mind or was he just a drunk

[intowiz]

i think he had a great mind but unfortuanatly due to his depression he drank

[tears_on_a_pillow]

A lot of people wiht depression find themselves 'self medicating' in a variety of forms, some turn to drink others may turn to things such as prostitution, the thing I am trying to say is depression is frightening, but what is more frightening and at times more damagine is is the unhealthy ways we turn to cope with the darkness..... I speak as someone who was a child depressive and a adult who has rapid cycling bipolar disorder.....and I know that my ways to cope at times have been far from healthy but at the times I was using them they were my way of lifting a little of the darkness, many people turn to drink, but it doesnt necassarily destroy the creativity within the individual, just look at the legend who is George Best (mhsrip)

[parnassus]

He was a great writer, definitely, but a morbid one. I personally don't enjoy gothic fiction at all, but I still appreciate the power he has over language and the way he can bring a scene to life. I don't think it's a question of either having a great mind or being a drunkard - the two things aren't mutually exclusive - but I expect he would have been an even greater writer had he not been addicted to alcohol. Every time you drink you kill some braincells. Prolonged drinking leads to something called Korsakoff's syndrome, which is when your short-term memory disintegrates completely. I think Poe may have had that.

[Thirteen-thirty-seven]

I agree with Vicky. I don't enjoy his work (please don't tell my boyfriend this! He loves Edgar Allen Poe), but I can appreciate his literary skill.