Annabel Lee

By Edgar Allan Poe

Stanza 1

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

line 1: Equivalent to “once upon a time” giving the poem a fairy tale feel, which is reinforced by line 2. It also gives us a clue that this is a flashback or story. Capitalizing her name gives her an almost divine stature.

The subject is revealed (Annabel Lee)

Stanza 2

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 love-I and my Annabel Lee;With a love that the winged seraphs of heavenCoveted her and me.

Line 1 shows us that they were young, maybe not actually children by age, but in their naiveté about love and the world. And it is because of this love that the angels in heaven were jealous of the couple. By the way, winged seraphs are angels, and coveted is to wish for longingly (or to be jealous of, as this case proves to be).

Stanza 3

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

The speaker had put her on an extremely high pedestal that seemed to make her an angel, or she was innocent and perfect so they put her away where she couldn’t be so and end their love. There is also evidence of foreshadowing as line 3 says “A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling…” By the way, a sepulchre is a chamber used as a grave.

Stanza 4

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,Went envying her and me-Yes!- 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.

The angels were jealous of their love and there is a self- insert in the poem that shows the reader that he is telling the story to someone or he is remembering the events and is making claims with is after so many years. It also shows us that it is a universal love story, even though Annabel Lee dies.

The Time Frame Changes…

Stanza 5

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

The motif that love will go on, no matter what forces (be they God or Satan, as is referenced- Biblical allusion!!!!).

Stanza 6

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

 He remembers her through personifying the moon that it brings him dreams, that she is watching over him with “bright eyes.” The last four lines tell us that he is laying down by her tomb, or her corpse, and he has been doing so for years as he calls her his life. I hope you remember what a sepulchre is!!!!!

Literary Terms and Techniques that haven't already been mentioned…

• Those six questions… Speaker: believed to be Poe, as he wrote this after the death of his wife (Virginia) as it was

written in 1849 (Virginia died in 1847) Subject: Annabel Lee Tone: sad, but determined to make sense of what happened Mood: also sad, but very nostalgic and fairytale like. The theme is that everlasting love exists or that love will go on if you haven’t died from

sleeping next to her corpse for years…

There is a rhyme scheme that helps with the poem’s rhythm

Stanzas 1-4 have every other last word rhyme (it’s also the same words over and over: me, sea, and Lee. Stanza 5 goes a bit off course, having lines 2 and 3 as a couplet and lines 5 and 7 rhyme. Stanza six is the oddest, with lines 2- 8 having a rhyme scheme: A, B, A, B, B, A, A.