Annabel+Lee

 Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe
 * 1849

This poem appeared in //The International Miscellany.// "Annabel Lee" is generally credited to represent Poe's young wife, Virginia Clemm. I t 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.

I was a child and she 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, chilling My beautiful Annabel Lee; So that her highborn 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 the cloud by night, 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 feel 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 the sepulchre there by the sea, In her tomb by the sounding sea. - T he E  nd- ||

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 * Note: [This is probably the last poem Poe wrote. In 1850, Frances S. Osgood identified Poe's wife, Virginia, as the real Annabel Lee, an attribution that has meet with much agreement. In contrast, T. O. Mabbott and other scholars have pointed out that although perhaps inspired, in part, by Virginia, Annabel Lee is a fictional character and need not truly represent any real person. Elmira Shelton, Poe's childhood sweetheart, considered herself as Annabel Lee, even though she outlived the author by many years.] (notes from: []) ||

"Annabel Lee” Study Guide Questions 1. What is the setting of this story (time and place)? 2. Why did the seraphs of heaven covet the narrator and Annabelle Lee? 3. How old do you think these characters are at the beginning of the poem? 4. How did Annabelle Lee die? 5. What happened to her body? 6. In the fourth and fifth stanzas (paragraphs), what emotion do you think the narrator is exhibiting? 7. What words from these stanzas support your answer in question #6. 8. How does the narrator overcome his grief at the end of the poem? 9. Do you think this is a romantic poem? Why or why not?