"Annabel Lee"
by Edgar Allan Poe
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.
She was a child and I 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 by night
Chilling my Annabel Lee;
So that her high-born 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 a cloud, 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 see 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 her sepulchre there by the sea--
In her tomb by the side of the sea.
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you agree with me that this is an enjoyable sort of creepiness? Or is it just yucky, to you? (No wrong answers here -- I'm curious.)
2. Is this a love poem? Why, or why not?
3. What are some poetic devices Poe uses here?
1. I agree with you
ReplyDeleteYay! :-D
Delete2. I think it is. He's talking about how much he loved her and she loved him, and how she was 'my life and my bride', and he's mourning the fact that she died and is no longer with him. He doesn't tell you much about her, except that she loved him and was beautiful and died, but I think it still counts.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely involves a lot of love, though I tend to think of "love poems" as being addressed to the person you love. However, it's absolute a poem about love! And, since the person he loves is dead, it's kind of the best he can do. (A poem to the dead person you still love would be a whole different kind of creepy...)
Delete3. Couplets, in the last part. Lots of assonance: ever and dissever; life and bride; child, I, child; rise, I, bright, and eyes; night-tide, I, lie, by, and side; beams and dreams. Also a good deal of alliteration: half, happy, and heaven; her and high-born; sepulchre and sea; side and sea; we, with, and was; came, cloud, and chilling. (there was no particular order to any of that, by the way)
ReplyDeleteAll good ones!
Delete1. Oh for sure! I remember the first couple of times I read it, I just thought it was so pretty. But then I read it again like a few years later, and I was like, woah, this is not what I remembered lol. But definitely still enjoyable!
ReplyDeleteHaha, yeah, the ending just kinda sneaks up on you. And you can kind of miss that she's dead for real if you read it quickly, I think.
Delete2. Yeah, I think so. I mean, it's the sort of love poem that gives you "obsessive" vibes, but I kind of think it's supposed to! I think it's a love poem just because it's main topic is love. It's a love story. So I think it's a love poem!
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely meant to convey some obsession! Like I said to Sadie, I personally tend to classify a poem as a love poem if it's written to a person you are in love with... but since she is dead, it still basically serves that purpose.
Delete3. Alliteration - e.g. love love love,demons down. Assonance - e.g. beams dreams, tide side. There's a narrator too.
ReplyDeleteYes! Good job spotting that narrator. Robert Browning may have popularized the whole narrative poetry thing, but Poe definitely took the concept and ran with it.
Delete