Two of the of the defining characteristics of romantic poetry are the use of strong emotions and an interest in youth. Published in 1849, just a few months before his death and only two years after the death of his beloved wife, Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe, Edgar Allen Poe’s “Annabel Lee” is the epitome of the aforementioned attributes of Romanticism. Through this poem, Poe tells the fictitious story from the perspective of a bereaved man recounting the passing of his beloved lover, Annabel Lee. The poem is written with a mood similar to that of a fairytale. This mood is created by Poe’s use of word-choice and rhyme. At the end of the poem, the speaker says that he lies next to his wife’s grave every night, giving credence to his statements that the love between the speaker and Annabel Lee was much stronger than any other love. “Annabel Lee” is written to portray the idea that true love crosses all boundaries. Poe communicates this idea through his use of word-choice and literary and structural elements, such as rhyme and meter. Additionally, the strong connection between the plot of the poem, and Poe’s mourning of his deceased wife attest suggest that the love in this story is, in fact, a true love experienced by the writer of the poem himself.
“Annabel Lee” tells a story of a beautiful love, a love unadulterated by the struggles and realities of adulthood, a love so pure that even the angels in heaven envy it. Through his use of clever word-choice and allegories, Poe illustrates the love between the speaker as something of unattainable beauty, yet also as something attainable by all individuals, regardless of age. The mood of Poe’s story is similar to that of a fairytale. He creates this mood by beginning the poem with the phrase, “It was many and many a year ago” (Poe 1). This phrase is very similar to the phrase, “once upon a time,” a phrase commonly used to introduce fairy tales. Immediately, Poe suggests that the story he is about to tell is like a fairytale. Throughout the poem, he makes references to the “wingèd seraphs of Heaven” (Poe 11). By doing so, Poe is not only suggesting that the beauty of the love between the speaker and Annabel Lee is so beautiful that it is envied by the gods, but he is also once again suggesting that the poem is really a fairytale. He creates a blissful mood in the story by associating the characters and elements of the story with fairytales. His emphasis on the youth of the main characters reminds the reader of his or her youth, a time where the harsh realities of the world had not yet been discovered. Additionally, his description of Annabel Lee’s as a wind blowing out of a cloud helps maintain the lighthearted mood of the poem. Although Poe describes the love “stronger than love” (Poe 27) as something that is beyond the reaches of humans, he reminds the reader that this love was in fact shared by two mere mortals. When the speaker’s wife dies, the speaker claims that she died because the angels were envious of their love. The speaker states:
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. (Poe 21-26)
At the end of the story, the speaker says that he sleeps by the tomb of his deceased wife every night. Poe makes it clear that the speaker of the story may have lost his sanity when his wife died. He emphasizes the humanity of the speaker by showing his inability to accept and cope with his wife’s death. Through his word choice, Poe illustrates a love beyond the reach of humans that is shared between two naive individuals. Poe uses this illustration to suggest that anybody can achieve such a beautiful love.
Poe’s clever use of meter and rhyme scheme allows him to create the image of a fairytale and emphasize the humanity of the seemingly unattainable love in the poem. “Annabel Lee” is a complex mixture of different metrical elements. The poem’s six stanzas are made up of combinations of different feet such as anapests, dactyls, and iambs, and the meter changes between tetrameter and trimeter. The amalgamation of these elements gives the poem a complicated structure that emphasizes the speaker’s feelings. As a result, the speaker’s words strongly resonate with the reader. Poe uses these techniques to create the idea that the poem is spoken by an ordinary man, and the love between the speaker and Annabel Lee is a love shared between two normal individuals. Although there is no obvious rhyme scheme, words that rhyme with “Lee” are repeated almost every other line. Poe’s use of internal rhyme in the 34th, 36th, and 38th lines help give the poem a stronger sense of rhythm. It is obvious that Poe intends for the reader to recognize these rhymes because he separated the two rhyming phrases with a caesura. Poe’s strong emphasis on rhyme suggests that his intentions were to make the poem sound like a fairytale. The use of rhyme helps the reader immerse himself and herself into the story and feel the speakers unbridled passion for his wife. The poem’s lack of structure and emphasis on rhyme give the reader the idea that the story is being told by an ordinary man and help the reader feel the blissful mood of the poem.
Just two years prior to the composition of “Annabel Lee,” Edgar Allen Poe’s beloved wife Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe died. It is likely that when Poe wrote this poem, he was still lamenting the death of his wife. There are several parallels between the events and characters in the poem and the experiences of Poe and his wife (Booth 18). The most obvious connection between Lee and Poe’s wife is that they both died. Poe and his wife had been married for over 20 years, and he married her when she was just at the tender age of 13. The quote, “I was a child, she was a child” (Poe 7) may perhaps be a reference to his wife’s young age. Although Poe certainly was not a child, he was in his late twenties when he married his wife, his wife may have made him feel much younger than he actually was. Additionally, the speaker refers to Annabel Lee as “my life and my bride” (Poe 39). If there really was an Annabel Lee in Poe’s life, then it is evident that Annabel Lee could be no other than Poe’s own bride, Virginia. In the poem, the speaker is unable to cope with the death of his wife. He claims that angels killed her out of jealousy. In addition, the speaker felt a great deal of pain when his wife died. The denial and pain of the speaker may be the same denial and pain that Poe felt when his wife died. These feelings were perhaps the force that drove Poe to write “Annabel Lee.” The similarities between the love between the speaker and Annabel and the love between Poe and his wife suggest that Poe felt the same love for his wife as the speaker felt for his, and thus this seemingly unattainable love truly did exist.
“Annabel Lee” is a poem written from the perspective of a common man. The poem’s use of the language of the common folk allows its message to be understood by any reader. Through language, structure, rhythm, rhyme, and allusions to experiences from Poe’s own life, Poe uses “Annabel Lee” as a medium to communicate the fact that love true love can be shared between any two individuals, regardless of age, class, and race.
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