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"Annabel Lee" is the last complete poem^[1] composed by American author Edgar Allan Poe. Like many of Poe's poems, it explores the theme of the death of a beautiful woman.^[2] The narrator, who fell in love with Annabel Lee when they were young, has a love for her so strong that even angels are jealous. He retains his love for her even after her death. There has been debate over who, if anyone, was the inspiration for "Annabel Lee." Though many women have been suggested, Poe's wife Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe is one of the more credible candidates. Written in 1849, it was not published until shortly after Poe's death that same year.

Synopsis

The poem's narrator describes his love for Annabel Lee, which began many years ago in an unnamed "kingdom by the sea." Though they were young, their love for one another burned with such an intensity that angels became jealous. For that reason, the narrator believes, the angels caused her death. Even so, their love is strong enough that it extends beyond the grave and the narrator believes their two souls are still entwined. Every night, he dreams of Annabel Lee and sees the brightness of her eyes in the stars. He admits that every night he lies down by her side in her tomb by the sea.

Analysis

Like many other Poe poems including "The Raven," "Ulalume," and "To One in Paradise," "Annabel Lee" follows Poe's favorite theme: the death of a beautiful woman,^[2] which Poe called "the most poetical topic in the world."^[3] Also like women in many other works by Poe, she is struck with illness and marries young.^[4] The poem focuses on an ideal love which is unusually strong. In fact, the narrator's actions show that he not only loves Annabel Lee, but he worships her, something he can only do after her death.^[5] The narrator admits that he and Annabel Lee were both children when they fell in love, but his explanation that angels murdered her is in itself childish, suggesting he has not grown up much since then.^[6] His repetition of this assertion suggests he is trying to rationalize his own excessive feelings of loss.^[6]

Unlike "The Raven," in which the narrator believes he will "nevermore" be reunited with his love, "Annabel Lee" says the two will be together again, as not even demons "can ever dissever" their souls.

Poetic structure

"Annabel Lee" consists of six stanzas, three with six lines, one with seven, and two with eight, with the rhyme pattern differing slightly in each one.^[2] Though it is not technically a ballad, Poe referred to it as one.^[7] Like a ballad, the poem utilizes repetition of words and phrases purposely to create its mournful effect.^[2] The name Annabel Lee emphasizes the letter "L", a frequent device in Poe's female characters such as "Eulalie", "Lenore", and "Ulalume".^[8]

There is debate on the last line of the poem. The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, Maryland has identified 11 different versions of the poem that were published between 1849 and 1850.^[9] However, the biggest variation is in the final line:

Original manuscript – In her tomb by the side of the sea

Alternative version – In her tomb by the sounding sea

Inspiration

Poe's wife Virginia is often assumed to be the inspiration for "Annabel Lee."

It is unclear to whom the eponymous character Annabel Lee is referring.^[10] Biographers and critics often suggest Poe's frequent use of the "death of a beautiful woman" theme stems from the repeated loss of women throughout his own life, including his mother Eliza Poe and his foster mother Frances Allan.^[11] Biographers often interpret that "Annabel Lee" was written for Poe's wife Virginia, who had died two years prior, as was suggested by poet Frances Sargent Osgood, though Osgood is herself a candidate for the poem's inspiration.^[10] A strong case can be made for Poe's wife Virginia: she was the one he loved as a child, and the only one that had been his bride, and the only one that had died.^[12] Autobiographical readings of the poem have also been used to support the theory that Virginia and Poe never consummated their marriage, as "Annabel Lee" was a "maiden."^[13] Critics, including T.O. Mabbott, believed that Annabel Lee was merely the product of Poe's gloomy imagination and that Annabel Lee was no real person in particular. A childhood sweetheart of Poe's named Sarah Elmira Royster believed the poem was written with her in mind^[14] and that Poe himself said so.^[15] Sarah Helen Whitman and Sarah Anna Lewis also claimed to have inspired the poem.^[16]

Local legend in Charleston, South Carolina tells the story of a sailor who met a woman named Annabel Lee. Her father disapproved of the pairing and the two met privately in a graveyard before the sailor's time stationed in Charleston was up. While away, he heard of Annabel's death from yellow fever, but her father would not allow him at the funeral. Because he did not know her exact burial location, he instead kept vigil in the cemetery where they had often secretly met. There is no evidence that Edgar Allan Poe had heard of this legend, but locals insist it was his inspiration.^[17]

Publication history and reception

"Annabel Lee" was likely composed in May 1849.^[16] Poe took steps to ensure the poem would be seen in print. He gave a copy to Rufus Wilmot Griswold, his literary executor and personal rival, gave another copy to John Thompson to repay a $5 debt, and sold a copy to Sartain's Union Magazine for publication.^[12] Though Sartain's was the first authorized printing in January 1850, Griswold was the first to publish it on October 9, 1849, two days after Poe's death as part of his obituary of Poe in the New York Daily Tribune. Thompson had it published in the Southern Literary Messenger in November 1849.^[12]

"Annabel Lee" was an inspiration for Vladimir Nabokov, especially for his novel Lolita (1955), in which the narrator, as a child, falls in love with the terminally ill Annabel Lee "in a princedom by the sea". Originally, Nabokov titled the novel The Kingdom by the Sea.^[18] Nabokov would later use this as the title of the Lolita "doppelganger novel" in Look at the Harlequins!.

See also

• Poems by Edgar Allan Poe

References

External links

• Publication history at the Edgar Allan Poe Society
• Audio - hear the poem read
• "Annabelle Lee" [sic], a 19th-century musical version by Henry Leslie, sung by Derek B. Scott

From Wikisource

This work published before January 1, 1923 is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

This posthumous work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright terms of posthumous works are 99 years or less since posthumous publication, rather than based on how many years after author's death.