annabelle lee

Annabelle Lee
by Edgar Allan Poe

This poem is somewhat long so here’s a link: Annabel Lee

Also, I found a sung version of this poem here.

Along with much of Poe’s other works, Annabel Lee is about the death of a beautiful lover; the situation. The reason for her death and his sadness may have been the time period; the setting. Poe describes a “kingdom by the sea” which refers to the Middle Ages where kings and knights ruled their nations. Equality was nonexistent as people of nobility exploited the peasants and farmers. The author’s lover was taken by “her high-born kinsmen” which supports this sense of injustice. Furthermore, the “sepulcher there by the sea” that she is placed in is both physically and metaphorically something unattainable.

However, their love is undying and continues. Even after her death, nothing can “ever dissever my soul from the soul of Annabel Lee”. Despite their unfortunate setting and situation, their love is constant.