Edgar Allan Poe- Annabel Lee
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;
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 wingèd 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 kinsmen 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 her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
Edgar Allan Poe – one of the greatest American writers, was born in 1809 in Boston. His life wasn’t the happiest. He became an orphan at the age of two (his mother died and his father abandoned family). He didn’t have money to finish University so he decided to find his place in military. After his brother’s death Poe started his writing career. He is known from his poems and short stories. His works are famous from mystery, dark side. They seem like a horror. Motive of death is in his works very popular. “Annabel Lee” is the last complete poem written in 1849, shortly before Allan’s death. This poem became an inspiration for other artists. One of them is Vladimir Nabokov and we can see effect of “Annabel Lee” in his poem “Lolita”.
Symbols in poem
KINGDOM
1. Denotative-a territory, state, people, or community ruled or reigned over by a king or queen Connotative- in Poe’s poem it was “a kingdom by the sea”- the place where he and Annabel Lee met and fall in love with each other. This sentence appears in the poem in five from seven stanzas. It means that is important for the author. This is the place where everything started and ended. It’s the place where he will always feel this love even she is already dead.
MAIDEN
1. Denotative- An unmarried woman; a girl or woman who has not experienced sexual intercourse; a virgin; a maid; Fresh; innocent; unpolluted; pure; hitherto unused
2. Connotative- his lover is his first woman, without any sin, she is the first for him, she had no experience, he is her first experience in psychical and physical way, he will see how she will become woman from a child. I think he plays a role of guardian a little for her.
CHILD
1. Denotative-A son or a daughter; a male or female descendant, in the first degree; the immediate progeny of human parents; in law, legitimate offspring. Used also of animals and plants.
2. Connotative-innocence, pure, young, laugh, getting first experiences in life, play, happiness,
THOUGHT
1. Denotative- The act or process of thinking; cogitation
2. Connotative- conclusion, knowledge, experience, longing, decision; In Poe’s poem “And this maiden she lived with no other thought than to love and be loved by me” it means that Annabel Lee was thinking only about him, he was filling all her thoughts, he was the most important in her head, she was not bother by other things than by thought of loving him and thought to be loved by him. She was living to love him.
MORE THAN LOVE
1. Connotative- obsession, sacrifice, no freedom, one heart, , envy, no compromise, pain, tears, passion, control, danger
SERAPHS
1. Denotative- a member of the highest order of angels, often represented as a child's head with wings above, below, and on each side
2. Connotative- “With a love that winged seraphs of heaven coveted her and me”- in this sentence seraphs who are usually symbolize something good, helpful, pure, here they act badly. Poe’s and Annabel’s love is that big and strong that even angels are jealous. They want to take away girl with them to separate lovers. Here it cans means that between love are sometimes some obstacles. Sometimes is family or cultural, religious or age issues.
REASON
1. Denotative- a statement presented in justification or explanation of a belief or action
2. Connotative- this reason in the poem is the strong love, this time action is taken by wind. Their love even is beautiful and strong has to deal with some distractions. Now Annabel is taken by the wind and then “so that her highborn kinsman came and bore her away from me”. This kinsman means relative. It can mean that she was a daughter of father who had high status or she was from rich family from upper class and they according to her family didn’t fit to each other. Whoever it was that person wanted them to separate so much.
SEPULCHRE
1. Denotative- a tomb, grave, or burial place.
2. Connotative-“to shut her up in a sepulcher”- this “person” who wanted separate them caused her death. It can mean that she died physically but also that she died mentally. However it can mean that she committed suicide. She didn’t want to live without his lover. She has no other reason to live, in her heart and in her head was no space for somebody’s else.
This poem tells a story about big strength love. It seems like its first love because they know each other from childhood. As kids they were friends but with the time they became lovers. They knew everything about each other from the beginning. They didn’t see future without being together. They were two person but they had one heart only. One half of heart couldn’t live without other half. Unfortunately they were some reasons that they couldn’t be together. It was a close person of Annabel who made them separate and unhappy. In this story is no happy ending. Separate from lover caused death of the girl. However, boy believes that even they are separate, she is dead and he is alive, even that, their love is as strong as was and nobody and nothing will ever take this feeling from them
“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”.
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