wpainterw

Keats a heavy drinker? Must look that up. Have researched him and cannot recall that. As for "morphine", called laudanum in those days, Keats does not appear to have been killed by laudanum but by Tuberculosis. He anticipated pain and did indeed take a bottle of laudanum to Rome but this was confiscated by his doctor and when he was dying and in severe pain his pleas for laudanum to ease his death were heartlessly refused. Despite his wishes, he did not "cease upon the midnight with no pain." I have visited his grave twice and deeply love him.
Did you by any chance confuse Keats with Coleridge or perhaps DeQuincy?
Ah, I see you are following the recent book by Nicholas Roe. But even Roe does not believe Keats died as a result of laudanum. Nor that Keats was an alcoholic (although alcohol was in the laudanum)

Bill

FreeOwl

I'd read some pieces indicating controversy on the matter.... seems well documented that Keats himself advocated laudenum and it was speculated that morphine may have been his death - in concert with illness. I thought I recalled having read biographical info about him being a bit of a heavy wine drinker..... but perhaps I'm mistaken.

wpainterw

My info from well known and respected biographers, such as Jackson Bate, is that Keats asked for his morphine when he was in such pain and his death was near. His doctor refused to surrender the morphine, and his reason for doing so remains unclear. Death was imminent and followed within a matter of hours. I have stood in the room where he died and wondered about such things. Churchill was a very heavy drinker. Was he an "alcoholic"? I can't imagine his going to AA and getting a "sponsor"! Doing the Steps!
These speculations are not off thread. They raise the perennial question of whether alcohol, laudanum, or in modern times LSD, meth, cocaine, ecstasy, open vistas into the inner meaning of things. I believe they merely muddle the mind and ****** creativity. This thread started with Free Owl's eloquent statement of life's true meaning. Good for you and thanks, Owl, perennial symbol of wisdom!

Bill

FreeOwl

I agree.... as a "creative" myself... a poet, a writer, a sometimes musician, a philosopher..... I have used the excuse myself that substances were a channel for creativity, a way to 'tap' altered perspectives and consciousness.

The truth, when I'm really honest with myself, is that while I often experienced altered states - none of those experiences really translated into any profound and magnificent creative work creative insight or spectacular channel of being that was otherwise inaccessible to me. In fact, my creative efforts when high or drunk or tripping were basically incoherent blathering. I've written recollections of those things, a few songs about substance experiences.... but the meaningful work I've done creatively in my life has been work I've done sober and with a clear and present mind.

Personally, I believe that those of us with a wild creative streak are also those of us who happen to be susceptible to addiction.... and we're excellent at rationalizing our addiction as being a requisite part of our creativity. Countless sober artists and musicians and actors and writers and poets consistently demonstrate that to be nonsense.

wpainterw

Free Owl:
I agree completely. In addition, it is a fact that laudanum was freely available and in wide use in the early 19th Century and even later on. DeQuincy give it a romantic spin with his book and the association of opium with romantic creativity was furthered. Although opium might have inspired short pieces, such as Coleridge's "Xanadu" poem (and even then some critics have suggested that Coleridge's opium story may have been a bit of a publicity stunt to give the poem a romantic appeal) it is doubtful that a lengthy poem could be successfully done under its influence. I am thinking here of Keats "Endymion", "Lamia" and "The Eve of St. Agnes". Even Coleridge may have been fairly sober to write the whole of the "Ancient Mariner", which was indeed written (1798 or earlier) before the time in his life when he became heavily addicted.
There is a humorous story about a member of our family who was not in any way an alcoholic or substance abuser who said she had a dream which revealed to her the true meaning of life. She quickly awoke and wrote it down on a memo pad beside her bed. In the morning she looked at what she had written. It said, "Roll me over and bump me against the wall!!!"
Q.E.D. Case closed!??

Bill.

lillyknitting

So tru, every word. Awesome post xx

TheOwl

Needed to hear this today, thanks

MsCooterBrown

Top 15 Great Alcoholic Writers - Listverse

List of SOME of the creative writers that drank/drugged and SOME that paid for this by dying. Not all. Stephen King wrote some of his best books drunker than Cooter Brown as they say...Not good. For some they BELIEVE they have to be drunk/drugged to be creative. Some snap out of it and get sober ....lots die. I feel that it is not a gamble we need to take. AND I do struggle...not a finger pointer. Just a scary thing to think of!