"Annabel Lee"

“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 love-
I 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 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.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of 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 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

The first stanza of the poem introduces the key elements of the work. It begins almost like a fairy-tale with “many and many a year ago” and a “kingdom by the sea.” The narrator introduces the title character Annabel Lee. He also mentions how madly in love he was with the maiden. The word “maiden” indicates that Annabel is most likely young and likely beautiful. The poem continues by developing on their love. It started at a young age and the narrator uses the past tense of love, indicating that the love may be past. He claims that their love was “coveted” by the “winged seraphs of heaven” (angels). Poe repeats the line “kingdom by the sea” to possibly reiterate the distance between the narrator and the maiden. Water is also known to represent the subconscious, meaning that the maiden’s kingdom may be representative of being on the edge of one’s consciousness. In the next stanza, the narrator expands on his previous points and claims that the angels’ desire for their love was the reason the winds “chilled” Annabel. The literary associations of cold and death as well as the line describing how she was “shut in a sepulcher” indicate that Annabel is most likely now dead. The fact that her “kinsman bore her away” indicates that there may have been some existing friction between the narrator and the maiden’s family. The narrator also repeats “kingdom by the sea” twice more in this same stanza. He then goes back to blaming the angels for the death, this time with more intensity. He follows by circling back to the intensity of the love they shared and claims that no creature from heaven nor hell can ever separate their souls from one another. Religion was still prominent during the Poe’s time period; therefore, the fact that the love is stronger than the will of heaven and hell serves the purpose to demonstrate the intensity and pure strength of their love. The second to last stanza marks a shift. The narrator begins using present tense as opposed to past tense. The narrator says that the shine of the moon brings him dreams of Annabel and that the stars are like her eyes looking at him. The association of the dead lover and night are aligned with the macabre and dark themes that traditionally surround Poe’s poems. The use of celestial bodies to represent Annabel further emphasizes the everlasting aspect of their love. The moon and stars will be there for millions of years. It also accentuates the distance between them that death inevitably brings. As we approach the end, the narrator seems increasingly disturbed mentally. He lies by the dead body of his “darling.” This shows that the narrator overcomes the separation of death by lying with Annabel in her tomb.