Annabel Lee

It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of ANNABEL LEE; And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea; But we loved with a love that was more than loveI and my Annabel Lee; With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago, In this kingdom by the sea, A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling My beautiful Annabel Lee; So that her highborn kinsman came And bore her away from me, To shut her up in a sepulchre In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,

Went envying her and meYes!- that was the reason (as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea) That the wind came out of the cloud by night, Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love Of those who were older than weOf many far wiser than weAnd neither the angels in heaven above, Nor the demons down under the sea, Can ever dissever my soul from the soul Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride, In the sepulchre there by the sea, In her tomb by the sounding sea. Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe wrote "Annabel Lee" a few months before his death. Is a poem about love between to children and how death doesn't stop them from loving each other and facing the barriers of death. Although the poem may refer to a number of women in Poe's life it is mostly acknowledge to be in memory of Virginia Clemm, Poe's wife who married him at the age of thirteen and who died before she turned twenty-five. Just like "Annabel Lee" which the poem specifically mentions the youth of the narrator and also of Annabel Lee, it also shows us the childish emotions in a way which is similar to the romantic era ideals. The author treats the childhood love for Annabel as a more eternal love than those of adults. The poem's setting has Gothic elements for example the kingdom by the sea is describe as lonely and in an undefined but mysterious location. The location by the sea recalls the city of "The City in the Sea," which is also located by the sea and connected to death. At the same time it has nostalgic tone and a Gothic background for example the love that outlasts all opposition, to the spiritual jealousy of the narrator toward the angels to having a 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.

"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. 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 s in some ways may seem as a simple ballad but exactly it is a narrative poem intended to be recited or sung.