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Summary: Long ago, "in a kingdom by the sea," lived Annabel Lee, who loved the narrator. Both she and the narrator were children but knew love more powerful than that of the angels, who envied them. A wind chilled and killed Annabel, but their love was too strong to be defeated by angels or demons. The narrator is reminded of Annabel Lee by everything, including the moon and the stars, and at night, he lies by her tomb by the sea. Analysis: Edgar Allan Poe wrote "Annabel Lee" in May 1849, a few months before his death, and it first appeared in The Southern Literary Messenger posthumously in November 1849. Although the poem may refer to a number of women in Poe's life, most acknowledge it to be in memory of Virginia Clemm, Poe's wife who married him at the age of thirteen and who died in 1847 before she turned twenty-five. The work returns to Poe's frequent fixation with the Romantic image of a beautiful woman who has died too suddenly in the flush of youth. As indicated more thoroughly in his short story "The Oval Portrait," Poe often associated death with the freezing and capturing of beauty, and many of his heroines reach the pinnacle of loveliness on their deathbed, as with Ligeia of the eponymous story. The poem specifically mentions the youth of the unnamed narrator and especially of Annabel Lee, and it celebrates child-like emotions in a way consistent with the ideals of the Romantic era. Many Romantics from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries viewed adulthood as a corruption of the purer instincts of childhood, and they preferred nature to society because they considered it to be a better and more instinctive state. Accordingly, Poe treats the narrator's childhood love for Annabel Lee as fuller and more eternal than the love of adults. Annabel Lee is gentle and persistent in her love, and she has no complex emotions that may darken or complicate her love. The poem's setting has several Gothic elements, as the kingdom by the sea is lonely and in an undefined but mysterious location. Poe does not describe the setting with any specificity, and he weaves a hazy, romantic atmosphere around the kingdom until he ends by offering the stark and horrific image of a "sepulchre there by the sea." The location by the sea recalls the city of "The City in the Sea," which is also located by the sea and which is conceptually connected to death and decay. At the same time, the nostalgic tone and the Gothic background serve to inculcate the image of a love that outlasts all opposition, from the spiritual jealousy of the angels to the physical barrier of death. Although Annabel Lee has died, the narrator can still see her "bright eyes," an image of her soul and of the spark of life that gives a promise of a future meeting between the two lovers. As in the case of a number of Poe's male protagonists who mourn the premature death of beloved women, the love of narrator of "Annabel Lee" goes beyond simple adoration to a more bizarre attachment. Whereas Annabel Lee seems to have loved him in a straightforward, if nonsexual, manner, the protagonist has mentally deified her. He blames everyone but himself for her death, pointing at the conspiracy of angels with nature and at the show of paternalism inherent in her "highborn kinsmen" who "came and bore her away," and he remains dependent upon her memory. While the narrator of the poem "Ulalume" suffers from an unconscious need to grieve and to return to Ulalume's grave, the narrator of "Annabel Lee" chooses ironically to lie down and sleep next to a woman who is herself lying down by the sea. The name "Annabel Lee" continues the pattern of a number of Poe's names for his dead women in that it contains the lulling but melancholy "L" sound. Furthermore, "Annabel Lee"
has a peaceful, musical rhythm which reflects the overall musicality of the poem, which makes heavy use of the refrain phrases "in this kingdom by the sea" and "of the beautiful Annabel Lee," as well as of the repetition of other words. In particular, although the poem's stanzas have a somewhat irregular length and structure, the rhyme scheme continually emphasizes the three words "me," "Lee," and "sea," enforcing the linked nature of these concepts within the poem while giving the poem a song-like sound.
Annabel Lee
In A Nutshell "Annabel Lee," the last major poem written by Edgar Allan Poe, was published immediately after his mysterious death in 1849. If you know a little bit about Poe, you might not be surprised to hear that "Annabel Lee" is spooky and sad, and that it deals with one of the author's favorite subjects, the death of a beautiful young woman. It's always a little hard to separate the life of the legendary Poe from his works. In this case, there are some big similarities. Poe was also in love with a young woman, his cousin Virginia Clemm, and married her when she was just 13. She had died two years before this poem was written. Whether or not this poem is "autobiographical," we can be sure that Poe knew what he was talking about here. This intense and fascinating poem is one of Poe's most famous. Whether you're an old fan of Poe or brand new to his work, "Annabel Lee" is a really cool example of his unique style and subject matter.
When this happened, her relatives came and took her away from the speaker, and shut her up in a tomb. Our speaker wants us to know that his love for Annabel Lee wasn't just a teenage crush. A little thing like death isn't going to separate him from Annabel Lee. Not even angels or devils could do that. He still sees her everywhere, in his dreams and in the stars. In fact he still loves her so much (here's where it gets really weird) that he goes and lies down with her in her tomb every night. Creepy.
Stanza 1 Summary
Get out the microscope, because were going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 1-6
It was many and In a kingdom That a maiden there By the name And this maiden she Than to love and be loved by me.
year
This poem begins exactly like a fairy tale, telling us that the story we are about to hear happened "many a year ago" in a "kingdom by the sea." These little details are important, because the sea and this old kingdom will be big images in the poem. Even more important though, is Annabel Lee. She's the title character, and she's the reason the poem exists. The speaker introduces her in the third line by calling her a "maiden," which lets us know that she is young (and probably attractive), but which also keeps up the fairy-tale feel of the first few lines. (You might think of her as being a little like a Disney princess, although as you'll see, this poem is way too dark to be a Disney movie.) Finally, the speaker tells us the key fact of this poem, which is that he and Annabel Lee were in love. So much in love that it was the only thing that mattered to either of them.
Stanza 2 Summary
Get out the microscope, because were going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 7-12
I was In But I a this loved and child kingdom with a love my and she was a by the that was more Annabel child, sea: love-Lee;
we
than
that
the
winged
seraphs
of
heaven
In this stanza the speaker lets us know that both he and Annabel Lee were young when this happened. Not teenagers even, but kids: "I was a child and she was a child." This lets us know just how rare and special their love was, but it also tips us off that maybe there's something not quite right here. He also repeats the line: "in the kingdom by the sea." This reminds us where we are, but also creates the hypnotic, repeating effect that Poe loves. It's the same trick he uses in the next line, when he tells us that he and Annabel "loved with a love that was more than love." He wants to let us know that their love was special and intense, even though they were so young. So, the speaker uses the word love three times in the same line, which is a pretty gutsy move for a poet. This love was apparently so amazingly strong that the "seraphs" (that's just a fancy word for "angels") in heaven noticed them. In fact, these angels apparently "coveted" the two young lovers. That's a kind of tricky word, but an important one for this poem. To covet means to want something really badly, usually something that doesn't belong to you. This is a strange feeling for angels to have, since it's definitely not a holy emotion. It's also our first hint that things might not turn out so well for these two kids.
Stanza 3 Summary
Get out the microscope, because were going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 13-16
And this was In this A wind blew My beautiful Annabel Lee;
reason by of a
that,
Here's where things really take a turn for the worse. The speaker blames the terrible turn of events on the angels who coveted him and Annabel. The jealousy of the angels was the reason why a wind came down from a cloud and killed his girlfriend. Actually the speaker doesn't tell us right away that she dies, just that the wind was "chilling" to her. That's a great word to use because it makes us think of the way you get sick in bad weather (like how people say you "catch cold"). At the same time, it gives us a first creepy hint of Annabel's cold, chilled dead body, which is a major theme for this poem.
Lines 17-20
So And that bore her her highborn away kinsman from came me,
her
up
in
sepulchre
Then, still without saying that she was dead, the speaker tells us how her "kinsman" (that just means a member of her family) came and took her away from him. Be sure to notice the word he uses to describe this kinsman. He calls him "highborn" which means aristocratic, noble. If the speaker himself were "highborn" he probably wouldn't think to mention this. Since he does, it gives us a little hint of a conflict here, maybe a little bit of a Romeo and Juliet-style family feud. Maybe even before she died there were problems in his relationship with Annabel Lee. That's just a small example of how Poe can work neat details into what seems like a simple story. Whatever is going on with the family, you can feel the speaker's pain at losing Annabel, and you can tell that he feels she is being stolen from him. He tells us how the family "bore" (that just means "carried") her away from him. Death and Annabel's family are trying to tear these two lovers apart, to "shut her up" in a "sepulchre." (That's another word for a big fancy building that you bury someone in, a tomb like you might see in an old cemetery. It's also a perfect Poe word you can always count on him to go for a spooky, fancy word when he can.)
Stanza 4 Summary
Get out the microscope, because were going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 21-26
The angels, not half so happy in Went envying her and Yes!--that was the reason (as all men In this kingdom by the That the wind came out of the cloud by Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
The speaker circles back a little bit, and directly blames the angels for killing his girlfriend. He says that he and Annabel were happier on earth than the angels were in heaven, and that made them jealous. He repeats what he said in line 13, insisting that "that was the reason" why the wind came down and killed Annabel Lee. The speaker is extra careful to point out that this isn't just his wacky theory, but in fact that everyone ("all men") who live in the kingdom know that this is a fact. We don't get any new facts in this stanza, and the story itself doesn't move forward. At the same time, maybe we learn something about the speaker's mental state. The fact that he circles back and repeats the story of Annabel's death might show us see how traumatic it was for him. He can't seem to stop thinking about that moment. Also, we think this theory about angels killing Annabel because they are jealous sounds a little off the wall. Check out line 23, when he says "Yes!--that was the reason." He sounds a little like a mad-scientist hatching a nutty idea. This will be important later, when things get even more bizarre.
Finally, notice how, even when Poe seems to be repeating himself, he's adding little changes and bits of new information. In line 17, the speaker directly mentions Annabel's death for the first time, when he talks about the wind "killing" her. Again, even when the story is simple, it's a good idea to watch every word Poe uses.
Stanza 5 Summary
Get out the microscope, because were going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 27-33
But our love it was Of those who Of many far And neither the Nor the demons Can ever dissever Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:
than the than wiser than in heaven under the soul from the
by
far older
Even if death might seem to be the end of love, our speaker tells us that isn't the case for him and Annabel. Even though they were young, that didn't stop them from loving completely, and from knowing what they wanted. He goes on to say that neither the angels in heaven or the demons who live under the water can stop their love. Nothing in heaven or hell can "dissever" (that means cut or separate) his soul and Annabel's soul. The bottom line is that their love is eternal, and that nothing and no one can tear them apart.
Stanza 6 Summary
Get out the microscope, because were going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 34-37
For the moon never Of the And the stars never Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
me bright
Here's the proof that their love between the speaker and Annabel Lee isn't dead (at least in the mind of the speaker). Notice that this stanza starts with a shift from the past tense into the present tense. He was telling a story about something that happened long ago, but now he's letting us know what's happening right now. The descriptions of his current life sound a bit creepy. Whenever the moon shines, he dreams of Annabel Lee. Whenever the stars come out, he feels Annabel's eyes on him. This imagery is shared by many of Poe's poems and stories.
His main characters are often haunted by dreams and visions of women that they loved. Most of the time, those women are dead but not gone. Just notice how weird and intense these images are. He doesn't say: "When I see the stars, I think of her." He says that when the stars come out "I feel the bright eyes" of Annabel Lee. It's almost like her eyes are there, and are burning into him. We are building up to something strange towards the end of the poem.
Lines 38-41
And so, all the night-tide, I Of my darling--my darling--my In her sepulchre there In her tomb by the sounding sea.
lie life
down and by
by my the
the
Now we arrive at the reason why this could never be a sweet pop song or a Disney movie. Because their love is unbroken, because they can't be separated by death, our speaker spends his nights curled up next to Annabel's dead body. After he hits us with that super-disturbing image, he follows it up by telling us that she is his darling, his life, and his bride. They were not married in life, but now they can be united in death. The speaker seems increasingly obsessed and unbalanced as the poem goes on, and this is what it all leads to. He is half-alive and half-dead, sleeping in a tomb by the ocean. Poe leaves us with one last haunting phrase, "the sounding sea," which makes us think of the booming roar of the ocean, suddenly terrifying and cold. Sorry, there's definitely no happy ending here.
every one of these tricks to enjoy the poem and understand it, but it's good to have your eye open for patterns, and then to look for the ways that they change. Another big tool is rhyme, and that's another place where Poe sets up a basic pattern and then plays with it a fair amount. The long lines sometimes rhyme, and sometimes don't, but the short lines always end in the same sound. Here's a quick example from the first stanza (we'll use letters to represent the rhymes): It In That By And Than and a kingdom a maiden there lived the name this maiden she lived to love and was many year ago, A by the sea, B whom you may know A of Annabel Lee; B with no other thought C be loved by me. B many a
See how that works? Sometimes the ends of the long lines don't rhyme with anything else in the poem (like "thought" at the end of line 5). On the other hand, the short lines always end in an ee sound. In fact, Poe only uses four words to end the short lines: "sea," "Lee," "we" and "me." Finally, let's take a look at the meter. This is where Poe gets fancy you could probably teach a whole English class on this poem. We won't drag you through every line, but it's worth a peek, because Poe was interested in how poems fit together, and the effect that meter could have on a reader. We'll show you two of the gadgets in his poetic toolbox. In the first lines, he mixes what's called an anapest (which is two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable) with what's called an iamb (which is the meter you hear most commonly in poetry, an unstressed syllable followed by a stress). Don't worry, we'll show you how it works. Let's start with that first line: It was ma/ny and ma/ny a year/ ago/,
The first three groups have three syllables each, and each one ends with a stressed beat (shown in bold). Those are the anapests. The last group (or foot) only has two syllables that's your iamb. Same trick in the next line: In a king/dom by/ the sea/
That's an anapest followed by two iambs. We'll resist the urge to dissect every line, but let's look at one more spot. The last stanza (lines 34-41) is made up almost completely of anapests. If you want to impress someone you could tell them that it alternates between anapestic tetrameter (four anapests per line) and anapestic trimeter (3 per line). The main thing to remember is the rhythm, which goes: da da DUM, da da DUM, da da DUM. Let's try it out one last time, with just the first four lines: For Of And the moon/ the stars/ never beams,/ never rise,/ but without bring/ing me dreams/ the beau/tiful Ann/abel Lee;/ I feel/ the bright eyes/
Of
Voila, now you're a master of anapests. What good is that, you ask? Well, we think having a name for this meter and being able to see it helps us to understand all the careful work that Poe did to make "Annabel Lee" sound the way it does. That should make the experience of reading it more textured and alive.