The fantastical poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the scandalous journal of “opium eater” Thomas De Quincey notoriously celebrate the influence of opium. “While male indulgence was seen as both antisocial and creative, women did not write about it this way,” said Crawford. “The concept of ‘addiction’ was still in its infancy, but there were clear views about the social acceptability of kinds of usage. The use of laudanum as a painkiller was common and it was relied on as we now rely on aspirin or paracetamol. Other notable women writers of the era with a habit were Henrietta O’Neill and Anna Seward.

Source: The Guardian March 11, 2018 06:00 UTC