Annabel Lee

           Carter 1

Kalen Carter

Erin Cole

English 102

November 14, 2016

Essay #1

        “Annabel Lee” was the final poem that writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe wrote before he passed away in 1849. Although he sold the rights to the poem while he was alive, it still wasn’t even published until after his death. I remember back in high school when I had to some research on Edgar Allan Poe I found out that that he had lost a lot of women in his life and that haunted him. One of the women that he lost included his wife that died two years before he did. I think this is what caused Poe to mostly write about women dying in his poems. “Annabel Lee” is one of the poems that fits this mold.

        In “Annabel Lee” the narrator seems to be some young man who describes himself as “child” for some reason. The man or “child” then finds himself falling in love with a young woman who is named Annabel Lee and they end up living in a kingdom by the sea. The narrator and Annabel Lee are very much in love and they seem to very happy living with one another. They love each other so much in fact that the seraphim in heaven, which I think are angels maybe, get really jealous of them. They get so jealous of them in fact that they end up killing Annabel Lee by sending winds that chill her to death. The narrator is of course devastated as anyone would be if their significant other died. This does not mean he is going to give up on

           Carter 2

their love. The narrator seems to believe that they are still connected somehow and that he is inseparable from Annabel Lee even though she is dead. This causes him to sleep next to her tomb and every night he dreams about her.

        Depending on how the poem is read I think there can be many different themes in there. Love is a huge theme in poem. The narrator fell in love with this woman when they were both young. Then their love is somewhat challenge when Annabel Lee suddenly dies. I say challenge because even though she is gone the narrator refuses to give up on her or their love. Another strong theme here could be envy. The seraphim are so filled with jealousy that they angered into killing Annabel Lee. The narrator then describes the seraphim’s envy by letting the reader know that they aren’t even “half as happy” as he and Annabel Lee were. This just goes to show how strong and consuming envy can be. You would think with them being in heaven and all that they wouldn’t have anything to be upset about but that clearly was not the case.

        Another thing I noticed is that after Annabel Lee dies the memory of her becomes associated with light especially light only visible at night like the moon and the stars for example. The narrator says that “ the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams of the beautiful Annabel Lee”. By making this connection with Annabel Lee and something that is bright and long lasting, I think Edgar Allen Poe shows just how undying the narrator and Annabel Lee’s love really is. Also in this poem Poe talks there being winged seraphs of Heaven and also there being demons down under the sea. The seraphims were consumed by jealousy and murdered Annabel Lee, but I feel like by bringing them up and mentioning them this is the narrator trying to argue that neither angels nor the demons keep them apart.