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Leona Collins

Professor Sterling

Comp 2 - 8 a.m.

21 March, 2017

Love and Death Illustrated in Annabel Lee.

Love and death, no one illustrates how love and death coincide quite like the amazing

American poet Edgar Allen Poe. Both the the raven and Annabel lee are cantered around the

themes of love and death, however the ravens weighs more on the death and sinister tone

whereas Annabel lee is a light ballad weighting heaver on the love side of the theme. Edgar Allen

Poes use of rhyme, alliteration, repetition, and word choice all consolidate in to the overall tone

and irony of Annabel lee. As the tone of the whole ballad itself is very light and uplifting as it

talks about this young love, however it is about the death of a young girl killed, because of the

jealously of angels, and told from the point of view of the resentful lover.

Annabel Lee is a lyrical poem by Edgar Allen Poe that depicts the tale of a young love

taken away too soon, and a bound that even death could not separate. It is set in a kingdom by

the sea (Poe) as the narrator talks about how great his love is of the young Annabel lee. The

poem then takes a turn to a darker tone as he explains the reason behind his Annabels death. To

the narrator the reason for the death of his love is that the angels were jealous of how strong their

love was even though they were just children they decided to kill Annabel Lee. He states that

their love is stronger than the love of people who are older and much wiser than they may have

been, however nothing will keep their souls apart even envious angels, 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;( Poe). The ballad is basically the angry lover of Annabel lee
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telling the angels that their love was so strong that their attempt to break it up with death was

futile; that their love is strong that not even death can hinder it.

Many of Poes works were centered on the themes of love and death. This may have been

due to the fact that almost everyone he loved in his life died before him. By age three both of his

parents had died from tuberculosis (Edgar). He later lived with his aunt for a while and ended up

falling in love and marrying his thirteen year old cousin, Virginia Eliza Clemm, who also later

died. His poem Annabel Lee is rumored to have been about Virginia.

After his wifes death from tuberculosis in 1847, Poe became involved in a

number of romantic affairs. It was while he prepared for his second marriage that Poe, for

reasons unknown, arrived in Baltimore in late September of 1849. On October 3, he was

discovered in a state of semi-consciousness; he died four days later without regaining the

necessary lucidity to explain what had happened during the last days of his life (Edgar).

The majority of Poe's works were short stories or poems as he is regarded as the architect of the

modern short story (Edgar). The French loved him in his own time and beyond, hence Poe's

great influence on symbolism and surrealist poets and painters, including Franz Kafka and

Edward Burne-Jones, Rainier Maria Rilke, and Egon Schiele (Lemco). Even though Poes life

was debt retiled and full of loss his works were influential to modern literature. Poes poetry

and short stories influence on the French Symbolists of the late nineteenth century altered the

direction of modern literature (Edgar). A couple of Poes most recognizable works include The

Raven and Annabel Lee.

In the beginning of his poem, Annabel Lee, Poe uses very light lyrical phrases that give

off a fairy tale like tone, but mid way through the second stanza the tone takes a complete turn to

one of loss and anger by the narrator. Poe opened up the poem by using the phrase It was many
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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 (Poe), the use of rhyme and word choice makes it sound likes a

childrens story and contrasts with the dark subject of this poem. Poe Continues to rhyme with

the ee sound with sea, me, and Lee throughout the poem in almost every stanza creating

a sense of unity and lyricism. Poes used of alliteration in Annabel lee is essential as it intensifies

the drama and emotions of the narrator, such as Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee (Poe). as

he repeat the l sound and in Nor the demons down under the sea; Can ever dissever my soul

from the soul (Poe). where he repeat both d and the s. Poes use of repetition of the phrase

kingdom by the sea and Annabel lee gives the ballad unity. One of the ingenious aspects of

Annabel lee is the irony in the tone and subject matter has. The tone is light while the subject is

about a young girls death; a death brought on y the envy of angels.

Poes life may have been as dark and dreary as some of his works; however his works

went on to shape, and continue to, modern literature. As the majority of Poes works are about

death or crime, with scary, dark, and thrilling atmospheres Annabel lees light and almost fairy

tale take on young love and death is revitalizing. Edgar Allen Poes use of rhyme, alliteration,

repetition, and word choice all consolidate in to the overall tone of Annabel lee. As the tone of

the whole ballad itself is very light and uplifting as it talks about this young love, it is ironic it is

about the death of a young girl killed, because of the jealously of angels, and told from the point

of view of the resentful lover. These factors are the leading contributors to why people today are

still infatuated a ballad wrote over a decade ago.

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Works Cited

Edgar Allan Poe. Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-

and-poets/poets/detail/edgar-allan-poe. Accessed 21 Mar. 2017.

Lemco, Gary. "Poe, Edgar Allan." In Crumbley, Paul, ed., and Patricia M. Gant, gen. ed.

Student's Encyclopedia of Great American Writers: 1830 to 1900, vol. 2. New York: Facts

On File, Inc., 2010. Bloom's Literature, Facts on File, Inc.

fofweb.infobase.com/activelink2.asp?

ItemID=WE54&WID=99152&SID=5&iPin=SEGAWII0750&SingleRecord=True.

Poe, Edgar Allan. Annabel Lee. Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation,

www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/44885#.Accessed 21 Mar.

2017.