Edgar Allan Poe Annabel Lee

Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (/poʊ/; born Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an
American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short
stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central
figure of Romanticism in the United States and of American literature as a whole, and he
was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story. He is generally considered
the inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the
emerging genre of science fiction.[1] He was the first well-known American writer to earn a
living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.[2]
Poe was born in Boston, the second child of actors David and Elizabeth "Eliza" Arnold
Hopkins Poe.[3] His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died the following
year. Thus orphaned, the child was taken in by John and Frances Allan of Richmond, Virginia.
They never formally adopted him, but he was with them well into young adulthood. Tension
developed later as John Allan and Edgar Poe repeatedly clashed over debts, including those
incurred by gambling, and the cost of Poe's secondary education. He attended the University
of Virginia but left after a year due to lack of money. Edgar Poe quarreled with John Allan
over the funds for his education and enlisted in the Army in 1827 under an assumed name.
It was at this time that his publishing career began with the anonymous collection Tamerlane
and Other Poems (1827), credited only to "a Bostonian". Edgar Poe and John Allan reached
a temporary rapprochement after the death of Frances Allan in 1829. Poe later failed as an
officer cadet at West Point, declaring a firm wish to be a poet and writer, and he ultimately
parted ways with John Allan.
Poe switched his focus to prose and spent the next several years working for literary
journals and periodicals, becoming known for his own style of literary criticism. His work
forced him to move among several cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York
City. He married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm, in 1836. In January 1845, Poe
published his poem "The Raven" to instant success, but Virginia died of tuberculosis two
years after its publication.
Poe planned for years to produce his own journal The Penn (later renamed The Stylus), but
before it could be produced, he died in Baltimore on October 7, 1849, at age 40. The cause
of his death is unknown and has been variously attributed to alcohol, "brain congestion",
cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other causes.[4]
Poe and his works influenced literature around the world, as well as specialized fields such
as cosmology and cryptography. He and his work appear throughout popular culture in
literature, music, films, and television. A number of his homes are dedicated museums today.
The Mystery Writers of America present an annual award known as the Edgar Award for
distinguished work in the mystery genre.
Annabel Lee The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
BY EDGAR ALLAN POE Went envying her and me—
It was many and many a year ago, Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
In a kingdom by the sea, In this kingdom by the sea)
That a maiden there lived whom you may That the wind came out of the cloud by
know night,
By the name of Annabel Lee; Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
And this maiden she lived with no other

thought
But our love it was stronger by far than
Than to love and be loved by me. the love
Of those who were older than we—
I was a child and she was a child, Of many far wiser than we—
In this kingdom by the sea, And neither the angels in Heaven above
But we loved with a love that was more than Nor the demons down under the sea
love—
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
I and my Annabel Lee—
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of
Heaven
For the moon never beams, without bringing
Coveted her and me.
me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And this was the reason that, long ago,
And the stars never rise, but I feel the
In this kingdom by the sea, bright eyes
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
My beautiful Annabel Lee; And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by
the side
So that her highborn kinsmen came
Of my darling—my darling—my life and
And bore her away from me,
my bride,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In this kingdom by the sea.
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
Summary of 'Annabel Lee'
You are probably familiar with American Gothic writer Edgar Allan Poe. Perhaps you have
even read his poem, 'The Raven,' or one of his short stories, such as 'The Tell-Tale Heart.'
Well, Edgar Allan Poe was part of the American Romantic movement and wrote a lot of
stories and poems. Today we are examining one of his well-known poems, 'Annabel Lee.'
'Annabel Lee' was the last poem Edgar Allan Poe wrote before his death in 1849. He sold
the rights to it while he was still alive, but it was not published until after his death. Haunted
as he was by the loss of many women in his life, including his young wife who died two years
before him, Poe often wrote about women dying. 'Annabel Lee' is no exception. Since the
poem was written after Poe's wife's death, it is believed that it was probably written for
her.
The poem is narrated by a young man who describes himself as a 'child.' The man falls in
love with a young woman named Annabel Lee. They live in a kingdom by the sea. The narrator
and Annabel Lee are very happy and very in love. Their love for each other is so intense, in
fact, that the seraphim in Heaven (angels) become jealous and murder Annabel Lee, by
sending a wind that chills her to death. The narrator is devastated but does not give up on
their love. He believes that his soul is inseparable from Annabel Lee's. Every night he dreams
of her and sleeps next to her in her tomb.
Analysis
Structure
'Annabel Lee' is similar to a ballad. In addition to a differing rhyming pattern in each of the
poem's six stanzas, Edgar Allan Poe repeats a lot of words. The effect of structuring a poem
like this causes it to linger in the reader's mind, in addition to building meaning each time a
word is repeated. One of the biggest rhymes in the poem is the love interest's name, Annabel
Lee, with the location of the poem: the kingdom and Annabel Lee's tomb are both described
as being 'by the sea.'
Themes
Depending on how you read the poem, there are many different themes in 'Annabel Lee.'
Love is a huge theme in the poem. The narrator and Annabel Lee fell in love when they were
young 'in a Kingdom by the sea.' Their love is challenged by Annabel Lee's death, but the
narrator does not give up on her, believes that their souls are intertwined, and sleeps in her
tomb at night.
Another strong theme in this poem is envy. The angels are so envious of the love between
the narrator and Annabel Lee that they are spurred to murder Annabel Lee. The narrator
describes the degree of the angels' envy by stating that they are not even 'half as happy'
as he and Annabel Lee are. This shows how strong the envy is because you would imagine
that angels in Heaven would be pretty happy.

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Edgar Allan Poe

BY EDGAR ALLAN POE Went envying her and me—

In a kingdom by the sea, In this kingdom by the sea)

By the name of Annabel Lee; Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

And this maiden she lived with no other

Of those who were older than we—

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

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