The Death of Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe, the infamous creepy poet, died on October 7, 1849. Yet nobody really knows the exact cause, considering there was never an autopsy performed on his corpse. He was only 40 years old and had just proposed to marry his second wife. He was found unconscious one day; some say he was found in the basement of a public house, others say he was found on the streets of Baltimore. He was in the hospital for 4 days before he died, very ill with a fever and quite delirious.

Poe’s first wife, Virginia, battled illness for many years, which is most likely the cause of his engaging in drink. There is disagreement on the extent of his drinking. Some say that he was known for having an addiction but had been abstaining toward the end of his life and was going through withdrawal. Others say that he didn’t drink enough amounts nor often enough to be considered an alcoholic in the first place (or to die from liver failure from overconsumption). Perhaps he had a low immune system and a low tolerance for alcohol when combined with other sicknesses. Alcoholism is the main excuse for Poe’s death.

A few who deny Poe’s intoxication are described as unreliable and contradictory sources. But some do claim other causes, especially diseases. One theory is that he had some sort of neurological dysfunction or lesion in the brain. Some modern doctors point to a particular twist in his face that might confirm this. Another theory speculates an injury or disease from earlier in life that finally caught up with him. Many of his letters include a complaint of pain, perhaps from a rare enzyme disorder affecting his nervous system. Yet another theory comes from evidence that one of his own doctors diagnosed him with a heart problem. There is also an argument for rabies, that he had hydrophobia right before he died. Evidence for this points to his delirium, temperature and pulse swings, hydrophobia, and time spent in the hospital as potential indicators of rabies; evidence against this claims misinterpretation of the doctor’s account.

One of the more popular theories claims he was “cooped.” October 7, 1849 was Election Day. In that age, there were political gangs who tried to regulate the voting booth. Some did this by kidnapping citizens and cooping them up, making them change clothes to vote more than once. This often involved threats and physical harm; occasionally the gangs would make the citizens drink alcohol to make them compliant. Perhaps he was put through this and couldn’t take it physically (after all, Poe was not particularly youthful). This view explains why he may have been found in a public house where election polls were taking place, and why some say he was wearing clothes that didn’t belong to him.

Another very likely approach is carbon monoxide poisoning. The Industrial Revolution was in full swing and there were no qualms about polluting the earth. A great amount of carbon monoxide (CO) was released in cities of the time in the form of combustion fumes. Many people suffered from poisoning as a result of constant exposure in the cities. The symptoms he described in his letters and some of his stories are similar to the effects of CO poisoning. Also, recurrent exposure on facial nerves contorts one’s face similar to Poe’s famous sideways smile. CO poisoning symptoms are similar to other illnesses and can be hard to pinpoint, which is a good reason for the mass of theories on Poe’s death.

I personally believe it is a mixture of a few of these theories. I think carbon monoxide was definitely involved, perhaps mixed with sudden alcohol consumption after refraining from it for so long. He had gone through a lot of physical pain in life, as seen in his letters, as well as depression; not to mention that he constantly wrote about pain and tragedy. He was on a due course to die young. I think the real question is why an autopsy wasn’t performed on his body and why the doctor saw him die but didn’t pause to ponder the cause. Perhaps there’s more to that story. Perhaps something went on that the doctor didn’t want to admit! But let's be honest. Edgar Allan Poe didn’t die. His ghost haunts his own graveyard to this day.

Leonardo da Vinci

“Leonardo da Vinci epitomized the genius and diversity of achievements that we associate with the Italian Renaissance.“ Leonardo da Vinci is best known for being called one of the best artists of all time. However, he was gifted in more areas than just this; he was also an amazing inventor, scientist, musician, architect, and engineer. He was, as the quote says, the essence of the Renaissance, with a hold in almost every area.

            Leonardo da Vinci was the illegitimate child born to Ser Piero, a notary, in April of 1452. Later, both Ser Piero and his mother, Caterina, wed other people. Little is known about Leonardo’s childhood, but he grew up in the care of his father, probably spending most of his time with his uncle, Francesco. Since Leonardo was illegitimate and he would not inherit anything from Ser Piero, he had to work for himself. Some say that, as a child, Leonardo did not have an interest in any kind of schoolwork, but developed taste for science and math later in life. Either way, he always loved nature. Legend has it that Leonardo filled his room with animal skeletons to draw. He later reflected that nature was one of his teachers, and that one could learn the most from the world around them.

            Eventually, Ser Piero must have noticed Leonardo’s artistic capabilities, because he sent him to Florence to study under Andrea del Verrocchio, a prominent artist of the time. Leonardo was sent to his workshop when he was 15 years old, where he improved his painting, drawing, and furniture making skills. Verrocchio accomplished some technical and architectural feats while apprenticing Leonardo, creating in the latter a craving for both artistic and technical challenges. Verrocchio respected Leonardo and, in around 1477, asked him to paint an angel in one of his paintings, the Baptism of Christ. The portion completed by apprentice far outperformed that of the master. Andrea del Verrocchio was so appalled that he vowed never to paint again. While this reaction is, perhaps, a bit extreme, Leonardo’s work is quite astonishing.

Leonardo left the workshop and went to serve the Duke of Milan, Lodovico Sforza, in 1482. The duke assigned Leonardo many projects, ranging from painting and sculpting to weapons and buildings. He was the model Renaissance man, with a diverse variety of talents. Leonardo was very independent, with ambition to spare. He ruined a few of his paintings for experiment’s sake and declared he would write an encyclopedia for himself.

Verrocchio and many under him used tempera paint, but Leonardo asserted his standalone nature by preferring to use oil paint, creating a different look about his work. His Mona Lisa, by far his most famous painting, was just meant to be a minor painting. There is controversy over the subject of the piece; some say she was pregnant, or a man in drag. It is most likely of La Gioconda, a random middle class woman, but it was never given to whoever commissioned it. In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre. Its return made it more famous than it ever was in its century.

            Leonardo is known for his excellence in the use of light. His style of chiaroscuro (from Italian chiaro, meaning light and oscuro, meaning dark) led to paintings with great depth and contrast. Whether he used this technique or simply like the idea, Leonardo himself said, “A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.” This was a new concept to Medieval Europe. Many artists of that time had difficulty portraying light, which made depth perception limited and created a very two-dimensional feel. Western Medieval artists discovered the practice of chiaroscuro; it came into being with Leonardo and Raphael in the 16^th century, and it wasn’t until the Baroque period that it really began to be exercised.

            Another technique credited to Leonardo is sfumato (Italian for “to tone down”), or the act of blurring edges and colors to create a smoother, mellower feel. This creates a more realistic approach to art and dilutes sharpness of lines and light when used in conjunction with chiaroscuro. Leonardo used earthy, coinciding colors, such as blue, green, and brown. He preferred these to the bright, luminous colors more common in that era. Sfumato also makes the scene more unified. The background is often as smooth as the subject of the painting.

            “Leonardo da Vinci was the first artist to use value consistently across colors, achieving tonal unity in which a figure presents a single, swelling, homogeneously generated volume in contrast to the inevitably fragmented effects of color-modeling. Light, color and form are now related in a way that approximates, and describes, their scientific and naturalistic behavior.” Leonardo, having grown up on the beautiful landscape of Vinci, had always been a fan of nature, longing to learn more about it and imitate it in his work. He believed that whoever wanted to paint or recreate an object or person must first understand how it worked. This led to his pursuit of science and human anatomy.

            In 1510-1512, Leonardo practically invented embryology. His famous drawings of the human fetus were never officially published, but were discovered in personal journals after his death. While in Milan serving the duke, he spent time with anatomist Marcantonio della Torre, which probably helped his later study in embryology. Leonardo is credited to having an accurate assessment of the womb and function of the umbilical cord. He learned a lot from the textbooks of Avicenna and Mundinus, but made educated guesses from studying animals.

One of the wonders of Leonardo is his series of journals. His messy writing filled 20 volumes of notebooks. His writing was not systemic, in fact, most of it was written backwards, leaving questions of both his dexterity (perhaps he was ambidextrous or left-handed) and his intent (perhaps he encrypted the notes). Either way, no information about his personal life can be gained from the journals; they are all about science, art, or math.

Something that is known about that pertains to his personal life is that when he was 24, there was a scandal about his sexuality. He was accused of molesting a 17-year-old man, but, when it came time for the trial, no witnesses or evidence was brought against him. Since there is no historical evidence of any close female friends, it has been assumed that Leonardo was homosexual. This is interesting because he seems of upright character, since he was vegetarian, quite against animal cruelty, and somewhat integritous. He probably liked to travel, since he often changed location, from Florence to Milan to Mantua, and Venice to Rome to France.

Leonardo was also a musician. Some trace his musical ability to Andrea del Verrocchio, who was a musician and an instrument maker. Others say he went to a music school apart from Verrocchio’s workshop. Leonardo probably would credit his interest in music to nature’s natural sounds because of his interest in his surroundings. Of course, being an engineer, he couldn’t allow any inefficient instruments to pass, so he improved a few. He created a lyre out of a horse’s skull, a mechanical drum that played when pulled like a suitcase, a trumpet with bellows so as not to waste breath, and a portable piano-viola-harpsicord. These are all quite abstract ideas, and not all were carried out, but mere drawings still deserve credit.

Not all his inventions were quite so peaceful, though. By observing the physics of birds, Leonardo created a few contraptions for flight. He drew up a design for a helicopter-type machine, what he called an ornithopter. He also observed that guns took too long to be loaded again and again, so he created a machine gun of sorts. He created a spring-powered cart with steering. While in Venice, the city of water, he thought up a diving suit to sneak up on an enemy under the water. He came up with an armored car or tank, but it had a major flaw. It was designed for men or horses to crank the wheels, but the way his drawings dictated, it would not work. If used as designed, the front and back wheels would rotate in opposite directions. Such an elementary mistake left historians wondering if Leonardo was, in fact, a pacifist, and deliberate in this mistakes. Perhaps his love of nature convicted him to the point of refusing to promote war.

            Also credited to being a scientist, Leonardo discovered Earthshine, the Earth’s glow on the moon. Seen at sunset, Earthshine happens when the Earth reflects the sun and shines on the moon. Leonardo, influenced by his own interest in light and shading, was convinced that the moon’s surface was covered in water, making it reflective. He guessed that the moon had its own atmosphere and gravity, and when the sun shone on the Earth’s oceans, the light reflected to the moon.

            Michelangelo Buonarroti, Leonardo’s chief rival, was born in 1475. The younger artist is famous for sculpting David, painting the Sistine Chapel, and designing the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. Michelangelo was very religious opposed to Leonardo’s atheism. The two masterminds finally had a showdown when the Florentine mayor commissioned them each for a fresco on opposing walls of the Town Hall. At that time, Michelangelo had only done sculptures and Leonardo had years of painting experience, but the latter never finished. But according to Leonardo, neither did Michelangelo; one of his famous quotes is, “Art is never finished, only abandoned.”

In France, on May 2, 1519, a genius died, most likely of natural causes. The man known for The Last Supper, Madonna of the Rocks, Adoration of the Magi, the Fetus, and of course, Mona Lisa, was much more than that. He was an engineer, a musician, an inventor, and an overall brilliant mind. Leonardo da Vinci himself said, “It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” Leonardo da Vinci followed his own advice.

Roman Religion

     Rome was a polytheistic culture. They got most of their gods, like many things, from the Greeks and the Etruscans. They built temples to honor the gods and sacrifice to them in, even stealing some from the Etruscans. But they mostly stole from Rome.
     There were many similarities to Greek gods in Roman religion. For the Greeks, the head god was Zeus. The Roman version of him was Jupiter. His wife was Juno, or the Greek Hera. Some more stolen gods and goddesses were these. Venus was like Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Mars was like Ares, the god of war. The goddess of hunting was Diana, the Greek Artemis. The goddess of war and wisdom was Minerva, the Greek Athena. Pluto was the Roman version of Hades, god of the Underworld. The god of the sea was called Poseidon in Greece or Neptune in Rome. The messenger of the gods, the Greek Hermes, was Mercury in Rome. 
     The Romans sacrificed to their gods to stay in favor with them. They gave the gods meat sacrifices, as well as fruit and cheese, depending on the god or goddess. For example, "Mars demanded a ox, a pig and a sheep." (Sacrifices) Or Jupiter needed cows. There were specific days and regulations regarding sacrifices. Luckily, an animal they did not sacrifice was humans. Some Romans worshipped in their homes. For instance, if a woman was having a child, she would pray to Juno, protector of women.
     The Romans made many astrological discoveries and named them after gods. That's how we got our planets today of Mars, Pluto, Neptune, and Jupiter, for instance. The planet Mercury got its name because it moves quickly and Mercury was the messenger god. Venus is bright and beautiful, named after the goddess of beauty. Neptune is a blue planet, named after the sea god.
     The Romans stole many things in their culture from the Greeks, including their religion. However, they tried to make it seem like their own by renaming the gods. For example, they stole the king of the sky, Zeus, and renamed him Jupiter. Their polytheistic rituals, like Greece's, included worship and sacrificing. Whenever they discovered planets, they named them after gods, as if thanking them. Rome was very good at copying, yet we give them credit for initial inventions.