Mad Genius 3: Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849)

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Edgar Allan Poe, once upon a midnight dreary

­Best known for his poem "The Raven," writer Edgar ­Alla­n Poe wrote compelling horror and detective stories as well. He put great emphasis on form and structure in his taut short stories. His short story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," published in 1841, is often called the first modern detective story.

Despite his skill as a writer, it is well known that Poe had a ­drinking problem, and letters reveal that he struggled with suicidal thoughts. The causes and circumstances around his death at 40 years old are unknown, but perhaps have to do with heart failure or ­his drinking. Based on her interpretation of Poe's letters, Kay Redfield Jamison speculates that Poe was a manic-depressive, a condition known today as bipolar disorder. In her book, she argues that creativity like Poe's can spring from states of mania. From the mind-sickness emerges a "cosmic" perspective that lets creative juices flow, she writes.

Edgar Allan Poe may have seen a connection between creativity and mental illness, himself. He wrote:

"Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence -- whether much that is glorious -- whether all that is profound -- does not spring from disease of thought -- from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect" ­[Source: Jamison].