Love Beyond Death: Edgar Allan Poe's 'Annabel Lee' - Essay Sample

‘Annabel Lee’ refers to the last poem completed by Edgar Allan Poe, an American composer. The poem describes the death of an attractive lady. The narrator got attracted to Annabel Lee and fell strongly in love at a tender age in an ‘empire by the ocean’. The author describes the love as so strong that even angels became envious of the couple. The narrator remains in love with the woman even after her demise (Coats 129). The speaker believes that seraphim caused the death of Annabel due to envy. The poem tells people about how love can seem so strong that it leads to obsession, more so when we lose those we love. I think the poem gives people the feeling that extreme emotion of loss can result in detrimental behaviors, such as stress and trauma.

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The speaker confesses to having fallen in love with Annabel at a young age; however, his assertion that angels caused her death appears immature, signifying the storyteller has failed to grow since then. The narrator’s repetition of this claim indicates that he continues to attempt to vindicate his disproportionate emotional state of loss (Coats 129). The poem concentrates on an epitome love which seems abnormally strong, cultivated at an early age. The speaker’s actions indicate that he not only adores the woman, but he worships Annabel Lee, a devotion he can only maintain after the lady’s demise.

The dominant characteristics of the voice in the poem involves that of sorrow, grief, and bereavement. The tone and mood of the poem remain dark and sad. The narrator’s attitude towards Annabel and her passing away evidently shows a somber mood and tone (Morales 5). The last stanza portrays the speaker as engrossed by the feelings of Annabel as he claims that he cannot experience the stars, moon, or sea. The storyteller says that his soul will certainly not ‘dissever’ from Annabel, which indicates his association with her eternally, which signifies that misery will influence his life forever.

The setting, time, and place involve a kingdom by the sea that existed many years ago where a young lady called Annabel Lee lived. The narrator and the young woman fell in love at childhood. Annabel Lee died from wind from the cloud. She got buried in the same kingdom by people the speaker calls ‘highborn kinsmen’ (Morales 5). On reflection, the storyteller believes that the angels, envious and unhappy with the couple’s love, brought the wind that caused Annabel’s death.

Lines 1-4: 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. The introductory lines provide an untrue image of safety that later develops into an emotionally distressing poem (Morales 7).

The poem’s setting in the enigmatic coastal empire where even the angels seem morally compromised and the plain bleakness of the setting correlates to the narrator’s tone and mood. The poem also has a setting in the speaker’s mind, in which he gets haunted by love and the pain of Annabel’s demise. The poem uses nature, such as kingdom by the sea, cloud, wind, beams of the moon and the stars, and night-tide (Morales 7). The writer portrays nature as a dualistic force, one that sometimes terrifies and unsympathetic to humanity, and one that can provide hope, peace, and comfort. The poem’s end highlights the storyteller’s environment integrating with that of his sorrow.

Works Cited

Coats, Karen. "Poe: Stories and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe." Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 71.3 (2017): 129-129. www.muse.jhu.edu/article/674167/summary. Accessed on 2nd September, 2020.

Morales Mateu, Jordi. "Annabel Lee." (2020). www.escholarship.org/content/qt01r9307z/qt01r9307z.pdf. Accessed on 2nd September, 2020.