Thursday, February 17, 2011

Poe / Annabel Lee

Photography by Zena Holloway

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 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.


30 comments:

  1. I must admit that this poem surprised me a lot. When I knew it had been written by Poe, I expected a more obscure and intriguing topic. To my surprise, this lovely, profound poem is very different from what I thought.
    I liked two things about this poem. The first one is related to the writing itself. I liked the way in which Poe presents opposite concepts and forces. He talks about angels and demons, love and envy, life and death. These opponent aspects create an intriguing atmosphere, but at the same time, the use of soft and tender words and rhythm become the reading into an agreeable activity.
    The second reason for which I liked this poem is because it reminds me of my childhood. When I was a little girl, daddy used to tell me I was the queen of a kingdom that remained unknown for the rest of the world. When I read the first verses of Annabel Lee, I couldn’t avoid thinking of my father. In fact, I believed that this poem had been written for a daughter. I thought that because my father talks to me using words that are very similar to those used by Poe referring Annabel Lee. Besides, I am sure that the strongest and the purest feelings are those parents have for their children. I finally realized Annabel Lee was Poe’s sweetheart when he wrote “my darling- my darling- my life and my bride”
    To conclude I must say that even if I dislike some aspects from Poe, I absolutely loved the reading of “Annabel Lee”

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  2. I enjoyed this poem immensely! I think this is one of the most beautiful poems I have ever read. It's so sad and so tragic that his wife died but he still loved her and dreamed about her. It's strange how you can love someone so much, and still feels hope when she or he is gone, because you know you will see her or him again. It is even odd when you love that person even more when they are dead. But the truest love is the one that is not changed by death. This poem is a lesson for all the people that feel that love can not be the reason for living and that no matter if the person is dead or not. It was beautiful and more to see that true love exists.

    Besides, I think that by now, in society the word 'love' is quite overused and is now almost overrated. That is why my favorite part of this poem is when he says that "But we loved with a love that was more than love". It seems to really involve the readers into Poe's emotions and give them a taste of what he was feeling.
    You can also feel a sense of loss when reading this, although he seems to want to make it clear to us that it doesn't truly matter to him whether she is here or there, dead or alive. He claims that since they "loved with a love that was more than love," death won't put a stop to that.

    On the other hand, I have read about Annabel Lee’s author and I found that Edgar Allan Poe was known for writing poems and stories with a dominant theme of death, and "Annabel Lee" is not the exception. Scholars, critics, and people who love his work generally believe that the poem was written in reference to Poe's deceased wife, Virginia Clemm , who died of tuberculosis in her youth and Poe died of a broken heart, only masked by circumstance two year after her. This poem represents the strong love that this person had for Annabel Lee (Virginia). Regardless how old they were, he felt that he could provide everything she needed, cause in his eyes love was the most important characteristic.

    Finally, the last stanza suggests that Poe’s life was pleasant and complete only if he was joined to Annabel Lee. His life only had meaning if she was near to him. True love can never die; it is enduring like the sea. The love he had for Annabel will live eternally in his mind and heart; in this "kingdom by the sea".

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  3. Annabel Lee is an interesting poem that let us get into the story through the way the lover expresses himself. When reading the poem and watching the video, it came to my mind that maybe these two people who loved each other were separated when they were just children. The images about their childhood made think that they knew each other in their childhood and being children they understood they had been born to be together. But, it can also be seen from the other perspective; it is that they were as children in their way of thinking, in the pureness of their hearts and as children without any wickedness but with the only desire to love and being loved.

    On the other hand, I think as a possibility that the wind which killed the girl represents a person who did everything in order to separate them. And the angels, demons, winged seraphs and all of those characters just represent people who didn't agree with their love and tried to separate them. After having read this wonderful poem, I could conclude that the death the author talks about just symbolizes the death of their love; it is not the physical death we know. Currently, I don't think she was dead, she was just taken away from his arms, and maybe she was convinced by people that he wasn't the correct man for her. Furthermore, I think that the tomb or the sepulchre mentioned by the author represents the wall between the lovers that was built by the other people who didn't agree with their love.

    Finally, I must say that I agree with the poet when he says that none can dissever his soul from her soul. I think that when we really love someone we could never forget that person...It is because love is not a passing thing, love is eternal. And in spite of the distance, of the obstacles, and in spite of people, Love remains pure!!!

    By: Claudia Lorena Rincon

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  4. Sometimes, when we read poems, books, or novels, we realize that prominent feminine figures are often idealized by the authors, acquiring a sense of divinity in where the poetical presumption and narrative make the women seem like the most beautiful beings. However, other times they are characterized as wicked beings with bad intentions that degrade and cheat on men. Nevertheless, there are some writers like Edgar Allan Poe, who in spite of being a writer of novels of terror, tried to always describe the feminine kind as the most exceptional thing on the planet. This incorporation of the woman is obvious in nearly the entirety of Poe's written work. Such is the case of the poem "Annabel Lee", where he himself does not get tired of praising and proclaiming his love to who he considers to be the perfect woman.

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  5. As time has passed, love has been considered for many as a feeling of strong affection, as an inexplicable sensation felt between two beings and the most appropriate meaning that this word could have is how the Bible defines it; God is love. However, there are some others who think that love is hard due to the horrible consequences that could have a hard experience in a relationship.

    Nevertheless, this is not the case of the story there is inside Poe’s famous poem; Annabel Lee because in this romantic but tragic story, the main character is entirely in love with Annabel Lee, a young girl, since his childhood. Annabel Lee is the inspiration to write this sad tale which is told by an old man who is remembering the past, who is remembering his first love; a love that was inoffensive between two young lovers who wanted to be together endlessly but unfortunately the fate was taken by the angels who were jealous of the condition of these lovers so that they decided to take Annabel Lee away from the young man and let him alone without mercy, without thinking of the tremendous damage that would cause the death of this woman which was everything for him.

    To finish, Poe’s poems are related to women tragic deaths at the end of stories, and that’s perhaps because of the death of his wife who, according to many writers, is the woman that matches with these attributes described by the author. Moreover, I think the purpose of the author is to distinguish his work from others which always have a happy end.

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  6. Poe was definitely a great poet, and a master of suspense. He also had a serious obsession with writing about dead women. As we know Poe has a particular way to make poetry he always kill his male protagonists and Annabel Lee is not the exception.

    The poem's setting has several gothic elements, as the kingdom by the sea, it is lonely with an undefined or mysterious location.

    Also Poe did't give a description of Annabel Lee, she is the center of this poem, but we never learn much about her except that she was young, and her name was Annabel Lee, so this is an imaginary character that make us to create or imagine how beautiful she can be in order to steal his thoughts and made him desire somehow to die and be with her in an eternal life and love.

    Also this poem reflects how strong is their love and it can be affected by anything.
    For me this is a really good example of rhythm and rhyme I enjoyed reading this poem.

    viviana katherine rueda

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  7. I would like to talk about the author of this poem because I think that it’s very important to know who wrote this short poem and at the same time I would like to mention how fascinating this poem was.

    Edgar Allan Poe was the author and playwright of this short poem, it is said that there must have been someone who was the inspiration of "Annabel Lee" and Poe's wife named Virginia is the one that symbolizes this female character.

    Furthermore, Poe is one of the most credible candidates to be the man in love in this romantic story because he loved her wife too much even until the time of her death. Moreover, another quality that favors the identity of his wife is that she was a beautiful, elegant and delicate woman and according to poem, Annabel Lee was a beautiful maiden, so in this aspect the two women have the same descriptions.

    Annabel Lee is a very meaningful and interesting poem because its theme explores the death of a beautiful woman and the true and powerful love between two people that will be never separated; neither by demons or angels because this love will cross frontiers between death and life.
    On the other hand, i like so much these types of poems because they deal with true love, of two people that fell in love and were born for being together forever. But it is a shame that these endings finish of this manner; with death and divisions.
    This poem sounds very good… when the speaker relates it, because of its ending of every paragraph Annabel Lee, Than to love and be loved by me, In a kingdom by the sea, Of those who were older than we-, it is not so important the writing of the words but what it is essential is the pronunciation of these words to create a harmonic sound in the poem…
    I would like to give my opinion of a phrase or of a structured part of the poem; “And neither the angels in heaven above, nor the demons down under the sea,” I disagree with this sentence because angels are taken like bad beings that do not wish the happiness of human beings and (that is wrong because GOD and angels that are with Him are good and wish well-being and happiness of people). Instead, demons are terrible beings; they work day and night for destroying, robbing and killing all people (as the Bible says). I think that the author did not have clear the differences between angels and demons.

    In conclusion, I liked so much this poem because I enjoyed reading it. Its writing was so easy and it helped me to understand it. Furthermore, another reason it’s because I believe in true love and people can have the correct person with them, I think that GOD is the source of love where a person can go and drink of this water.

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  8. Firstly, I want to say that I am not interested in poetry because I think that it is boring, but I have read some of it which has been really fascinating such as “Annabel Lee”. It reminded me of all those Korean dramas that never have a happy ending and whose plots are about a “true and eternal love” which can overcome any obstacle even death. It is unbelievable how a man can love a woman from her childhood to the last day of her life. Annabel Lee is a poem that refers to “an ideal love” with an extraordinary intensity which shows a man who does not only love a woman but he idolises her. Based on that, some critics affirm that Allan Poe wrote this poem because of his wife’s death. In fact, she was the only woman that Poe loved when he was a child, the only one who had been his wife and the only one who died.
    This poem made me think about “the real love” among human beings that only exist in Disney Channel Stories and Shakespeare Books because our reality is totally different. People leave to “love” their couples easily as well as quickly. Love is not yet something faithful because it dosent last long. Actually, Scientifics affirm that “real love” just lasts 7 months and after that period of time love become's “a habit or an attachment” and I think that it is true…what do you think? Is love real or a fantasy

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  9. It’s amazing to think that a love in childhood can last forever. As we know, they were just children and the angels separated them. I would think that he would meet another beautiful woman to spend the rest of his existence, but unbelievably, and according to many, he loved her forever.

    In this poem, most of people believe that angels envied the girlfriend because he loved her so much and because she was so beautiful and therefore, angels took her to heaven. However, what I believe is that angels were jealous because of the love he felt for her, so they decided to take her and in this way, he could not love anybody. On the other hand, I think the angels think that if her love was not for them, her love was not for anybody, but angels did not think that their love would even exist after her death.

    This poem reminds me Romeo and Juliet story, because they are both very young when they fell deeply in love each other. It is experimented a love beyond the understanding of older persons.

    To be inspired to write this poem, I think Poe became a child again and he brought to his mind all those beautiful moments and places where he spent unforgettable instant living with his beloved wife. It is curious to think how someone can love so much and still feel good when a beloved person is gone. It is even strange when you love that person even more when she or he is dead.

    Finally, another thing that I reflect on is when Poe says, "But we loved with a love that was more than Love", He cannot refer to the love that we know, because it was a feeling that nobody can explain, in view of the fact that they were just children.

    Marcela Meneses

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  10. Although, when I read the title ´´Annabel Lee´´ what came to my mind was the idea of an elegant and a passionate woman. But then when I continue the reading I realized that the main topic of the poem was about an impossible love which had to face a lot of enemies and the adversity.
    For me, it is very interesting the contrast done by the author when he talk about the angels and the demons in order to make reference to the bad and the good people who were against author and in favor of this love. Furthermore, because those symbols help the audience to understand the essence of the poem.
    As another factor, I consider which is important in this poem is the repetition of the phrase ´´in a kingdom by the sea´´ because in it the author makes emphasis about the main topic which is love. But no whatever fleeting love but also an intense, a deep and a suffered love. Also the sound of the voice that is used in this poems show the gloomy and the mourning which this love was.
    Also this poem reflects the Romanticism based on a literary figure which is in this case the metaphor as the highest expression of love. Because at that time the church forbade love. Finally I want to conclude with one chapter of the bible that says; Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

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  11. I liked so much this poem since the author writes in a soft way, showing to the reader how a person can love someone. I must confess that I love poems but especially romantic poems, however in this case this poem is a kind of tragedy love which talks about a couple that was separated by their own parents.

    In my point of view, when there is a love like this, a kind of true love, couples should not be separated since it increases the misery of each one who opens her and his hearts in order to be happy in the present and the future.

    This poem taught me that even in the dead, love still continues in the heart. Also, this poem showed me that love between two people is so strong, beautiful and pure that even the seraphs and angels in heaven, envy it, like it was mention in the poem. But in spite of this envy and the attempting to kill this love by sending a chilling environment that killed the maiden Annabel Lee, this "love" remained alive, eternal because the souls of the lover remain joined.

    Also, I loved the way as he wrote about the setting since he told about a kingdom by the sea which shows a fictional kingdom along the ocean shore; I think that this land was like a beautiful and idyllic land of enchantment; a paradise on the earth where he and Annabel Lee fell in love since they were children.

    I must say….I loved this poem…..

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  12. Annabel lee:
    This poem is just beautiful. Maybe the way the writer puts every situation to be unique and unforgettable makes it even better. I think Poe always found the way to make that even tragedy was shown like something with beauty inside, as Annabel lee in this case, talks about the eternal love that people can experience even when their lovers are not physically anymore, that love can get beyond other people’s understanding and that the most unbearable suffering is caused only by true love.
    Talking about specific things I loved were the sonority that is within every stanza of the poem that causes a huge pleasure when listening to audio documents of it and even when you read it personally, those are elements that make a poem wonderful. Also, I liked the way how Poe used angels and demons to represent the good and bad people who were envying the strength of the love the man felt for Annabel Lee which is just pure and sublime poetry.
    I think Poe is just unique for the way he plays with opposite elements at same time like love and tragedy and the touch of darkness inside of each of his works. Now I considered myself as one of his fans.

    love is the only feeling that can get beyond death, the only one that can move tough hearts, the only one that deserves to be fougth for and why not, the only one which I would die for.

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  13. This poem, called: Annabel Lee is a love`s representation that comes from a man who really love his wife in an undescriptible way. But the essence is found when you as a reader realize that she is not alive. As she was everything for him when they were together; then, she deserves a great qualification and immortalized version like this one in the poem, where he describes her as a great queen in a reminiscent way.

    The whole description is based on an eternal love, represented in a love`s tragedy by death where he remembers everything as they were at that time when he shares all those beautiful moments with his darling bride, in a fantasy`s descriptive way referring to his real wife who is death; using all those words to create an atmosphere that really exists in his mind as the world he would wish to live with her the rest of their life.

    As a reader, the connotation that I found was, that they knew each other in their childhood and it could be the reason because they were in love in this way. One beautiful sentence to analyze is this one “with a love that the winged seraphs of heaven coveted her and me” as it represents the jealousy of the angels, this jealousy that is told inside the whole version, to show us the pureness of their love.

    Finally, I must say that I really like the way the author writes, because it is not a common one, as he uses his imagination to transform the different details inside the poem doing an original version based on the real one.

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  14. Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe.
    This is an excellent poem which involves an endless love story. It began when a couple of children felt a sweet and pure love each other, time went by and their lives changed because the top official in the heaven decided to pull Annabe Lee away from her lover.

    An undesirable end was developed in this poem and as consequence a crazy lover is wandering by the world, because a big obsession leads his destiny. His real life was put away; meanwhile a new world was created in his head, a world where he keeps in touch with his dear Annabel and where he expresses his hope to see her again.

    On the other hand, in this poem, the author made a nice description of Annable, which makes you infer what a beautiful she was; it was maybe a woman who deserved being compared with a virginal image and besides who is even watched by angels and demons, who won’t allow them putting together again. However a strong feeling is moved by their love and surely both Annabel and her dear lover will have a second chance in the afterlife.

    To finish with my commentary, I think this poem shows us the magic of poetry and its power to make us fly in different situations of human life. Annabel Lee is a poem which makes me wonder if someday I will have the strength to accept the death of my loved ones and what kind of world I will have to create inside me to keep them close without forgetting my real life.

    Yaneth Rocio Vera Rincon

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  15. Annabel Lee was such a pleasant story for me because it completely changed the perspective I had about Poe. For me, it is very interesting that he can change dramatically his way of writing and all those nuances that he uses, and amaze us with such a brilliant, deep and moving poem.
    Annabel Lee tells us the story of a couple and their love, it was so pure and so strong that even death could not put an end to it, however, an aspect that I really liked was that contrast that Poe makes between good and evil, he shows that it that is like a continuum in our lifes but he also concedes that if we struggle against adversity and we try to face all the problems we have, we are going to succeed and we are going to reach our goal.
    Another trade of this poem is that he puts envy like as a contrary for love, and that is so real, I mean, If you are happy and you are in love, there is always going to be some people trying to destroy those things, why?, well just because those persons have fear and they are scared that perhaps they will never find something or someone to make them feel satisfied so that the only thing they have is to destroy other’s happiness.
    Do not let people take control over your life, fight for what you want, fight for you loved ones and you will see how your life will change for good.

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  16. Annabel Lee

    In order to have a deep understanding about this beautiful and painful poem, first we need to know about Edgar Allan Poe’s personal life because the most of his work and his writing style is a mirror of his tragic life. His name alone conjures up images above horror and darkness. Some people described him as a tormented alcoholic and drug addict madman but the facts in his life were more complicated than those judgements, he was both blessed and cursed by his genius.

    Maybe, to open his heart in writing this poem, Poe felt inspired by his mother and sister who died young too from tuberculosis, but doubtlessly, Annabel Lee is addressed to his wife Virgina, whose death devastated him and made him to continue abusing of alcohol and drugs as once did her engagement to another man before he asked for her hand in marriage. Through Annabel Lee, the author exposes to the readers his true love that was born when he and his lover were only children (since Poe felt like that with his 13 year old wife), then followed few years of happiness in their “kingdom by the sea” until God or “the angels in heaven” killed her leaving him alone and unprotected in world but dreaming and feeling her beyond her death.

    Personally, this piece of poetry made me feel mercy and really sorry for the author since he expresses through those six stanzas, on the one hand, that he is not sane showing a distorted reality and, on the other hand, his love, pain and despair because life had been unfair to them and their pure love that always remained alive and eternal that even the unexpected and unwelcome death did not separate him from Annabel Lee.

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  17. Annabel Lee comment
    It is a romantic poem written by the polemic American writer “Edgar Allan Poe”. Taking into account the sad writer’s life his magic, romantic and gloomy work would have more sense, the poet’s father separated from his mother who died when he was very young and he grew up with another family, later years he went to the army, then due to lack of economic solvency he started his literary career, which account him renown and fame, but his personal life was not the more responsible one, and he died at age of forty (The exact cause of his death was never clarified) and his career ended, though his work will never be forgotten.
    “Annabel Lee” may represent the writer’s wife death at young age (she died of tuberculosis, same disease which killed the poet’s mother, one of the possible diseases causing the poet’s death) with a very suspicious, romantic and full of fantasy ink, the use of religion comparisons and the envy of deities, the allusion of a realm (love realm) near the ocean, where the beloved couple lived, gave and shared love, then the cruelty of reality with an abrupt change represented in the finals mournful and painful lines.
    Further, this poem’s rhyme is a little simple, most of the lines are related to the same phonetic sound albeit is very catchy; moreover the poem’s theme is very astonishing, it portrays true love against any difficulty, but ended with a tragedy, tragedy that brought out pain and sorrow, alluding the powerful capacity of change coming through as the time passes by, it shows the talent or probably the outcome inspiration of life experience of this amazing writer, “POE”.

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  18. Annabel Lee
    When reading Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee” poem, I did not have a good impression especially related to the title, it was not a catchy one for me. Taking into account that the title is the name of a woman, I thought that the poem was related to a love declaration or perhaps a romantic one. Why? Because the first and second verse, showed a description of a very beautiful setting, environment, as well as wellbeing of two people living in that place together in love.

    But things changed in the third verse, where I started noticing a very sad story, the poet shows his nostalgia due to the fact that a very lovely woman went away from his side in an unexpected moment. In the fifth verse the author expresses the great love they had both of them. In this verse, love was compared with; wisdom, time, angels in heaven, but nothing overcomes its greatness. In the last verse, the author tells the experience he faced after his wife’s death. For instance, he says that the moon brings him dreams and memories about his beautiful Annabel Lee. This proves that it was a very intense love; firstly because he had the power to write about his own experience, secondly, because the comparisons he made reflect especial moments they lived as a couple.

    I appreciated this poem so much, because as I said before, this poem was written following a sequence, the author is telling his real life story where everything started with beauties but it had an undesirable end.

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  19. What about Annabel Lee?

    For introducing the topic, I can say that “Annabel Lee”is a beautiful and romantic poem at the beginning but it has a very unhappy ending, but what I really admire is the person that wrote it inspired in love and at the same time in sadness: Edgar Allan Poe who was one of the most relevant writers in the American history characterized by his different style of writing being part of the American Romantic Movement. This amazing author, editor and literary critic has been one of my favorite poets because when I read his different tales and works I immediately think in how great is human beings’ imagination. Sometimes I do not understand why a famous person with a wonderful talent falls into dangerous vices like drugs and alcohol as the case of this fantastic author. I was reading that the cause of his death is unknown but there are some reasons which carried out his decease such us alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other factors. Maybe this marvelous writer, to leave the monotony, decided to enter to that terrible world, remembering that his childhood was extremely difficult because when he was a youngster his mother died shortly, after his father abandoned the family. Perhaps that is why he wrote tales of mystery and horror stories. Who would not like to write like him?

    On the other hand, it was really interesting reading that passionate poem because it gave me the perception to understand that nothing in life is eternal; precisely, the poem talks about a young love between a man and an attractive girl named Annabel Lee that unfortunately died, ending their romantic relationship to come to love eternally. This immortal love makes me reflect that true love exists because God gave the opportunity to give two people together for the purpose of marrying one another and that relationship provides the opportunity for true love to become possible. So, I cannot deny love was real between the man and Annabel.

    To conclude, I would like to read more poems like “Annabel Lee” in order to improve my English, learning new expressions and vocabulary but specially knowing more about love. I believe that true love exists, but people may disagree on the definition of that concept, for that reason this poem could help us to comprehend that true love occurs as the acceptance of another human being no matter what will happen with death.

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  20. “Annabel Lee”
    By: Edgar Allan Poe

    This term, we have the opportunity to read another type of literature as poetry that tells us a story but in a different way, because this is a rhythmical composition where symbolism, metre and imagery are the main characteristics. In addition, Poetry, as well as short stories or fairly tales, has diverse topics such as love, adventures, horror or sad situations. One of the most important exponents in poetry is Edgar Allan Poe who is best known for his mystery and macabre stories; however, this poem called “Annabel lee” is different from his traditional works because this is a lovely memoir where a lover wants to show his real feelings affirming that nothing can separate him from Annabel.


    This poem is related to a huge incomparable mutual love that began when they were children and that is destined to never end, no matter what, no matter who, they both will always be together and although she is dead, he has the night, the moon and the starts that always remember him that his lover Annabel Lee will not leave him alone. Indeed, they are like one person with one soul, one heart in two bodies or to make it more poetic, two pages from one same book.


    Finally, I can say that this poem “Annabel Lee” shows us that real love does not have unbeatable limits, because if we have an objective, we can achieve it, but this goal demands sacrifice and dedication, for that reason, I consider that love is like a plant that requires our attention and care, so that, it can live for a long time.

    “To love someone is to tell them: 'you will never die'” By Gabriel Marcel

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  21. Death, pain and love are common factors in Poe’s style as seen in “Annabel Lee” wherein the author assumes a sorrowful attitude against the loss of his lover (who does not?). Even if I am not a romantic person, I congratulate how one could use certain words to wrap inner feelings. Wise men used to say that we all become poets if there is someone inspiring us, me? I hope to find one.
    However, the fact of not being romantic did not forbid me to appreciate such a marvelous poem. Through the reading process; my mind was full of images about couples, red roses, old houses and angels. This was because I thought I could feel Poe’s letters and in fact, I did! Believe me, I found his words alive.
    At the end, the poem turns into a gray picture of what love is, don’t you think? Anyway, to finish and supposing we will never ever discover our poetic talent (it is just a surmise), there is something I could tell you without any doubt: our lives are poems from that kingdom by the sea.

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  22. “ANNABEL LEE”
    To start, I can say that “Annabel Lee” is a very romantic poem, but first it is essential
    to know about Edgar Allan Poe's life, because he was a brilliant American poet, short-
    story writer, and critic who was best known for his fantastical horror stories. Poe is
    considered primarily as a poet. However, reading about his life let us to discuss about why a genius person as Poe used drugs and alcohol, but the fact is that his life was painful, full of complicated moments that really impacted him, for example, when he was a child his mother died and his father abandoned the family, in which he felt inspired to write fascinating poems.
    In addition, “Annabel Lee” was addressed to his spouse, Virginia, in which Poe expressed his love, as we can see in the following lines: “But we loved with a love that was more than love I and my Annabel Lee,”...As well as he expressed his love, Poe elicited his wish to see her again, as we can note in the following lines: “For the moon never beams without bringing me dream of the beautiful Annabel Lee,”...Remarkably this poem made me think about all those couples that are away from each one and the need to be together one more time.
    To conclude, I really loved this poem, because it remained me that love exists and in spite of unpredictable facts in our life, it is vital to enjoy every day with those people who
    undoubtedly love us.

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  23. "Annabel Lee”

    In the depth of the human heart, hidden among black darkness, live the most sorrowful feelings of the mankind, waiting for the kiss of the light…but that kiss is never coming. Poe could have written this, instead of it, he created a world full of horror and desperation. Annabel Lee is a picture of his mind. Surrounded by death, illness, and a chaotic life style since he was just a child, he had to see how his mother, his beloved cousin, and some friends perished, leaving him with a huge question mark on his life, “what happened to them”?
    As a child, he was, and continued being during his life, he could only imagine a world aside where all these tragedies became a fairy tale, a kingdom by the sea. There, he amused himself in joy and happiness, loving and being loved. From the sources of his imagination, he built up a setting where all what he wanted became reality, and her beloved one stayed by his side. But, something went out of hand, the heaven, the unknown heaven which only seemed to rain disgrace over him, did it once again: even in his kingdom, it came to take away what he loved the most: his crystal maiden, sinking him in an ocean of sadness and longing.
    Then, the solitary lover lied next to the sepulchre, whispering in the air his thoughts; he always wanted to say to her princess, never again, for she has gone to nowhere. All this desolation poured Poe into disaster, pushing him to become and addict as a way to anesthetized himself from all the horror and the pain cutting his heart, for Annabel Lee was just the metaphor of his cousin, the beloved woman he lost with a part of his soul.
    Tragedy put its label on the life of Edgar Allan Poe, from his point of view , Poe shows me in his poem, the dark side of my life, this big isolation than I am feeling; the frustration that I can suffer in that moment of my life.

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  24. Annabel Lee
    This romantic and nostalgic poem showed me how love can be eternal even after death, the author related the death with opposed forces against love: envy; even the angels of the heaven feel it, when the author mentioned it I could infer he was sure his love was in the heaven.
    The first reading gave me an idea about the theme of the poem, I realized Annabel, the muse of his inspiration, was dead and that was so sad, but the way the author described her was in a nostalgic and lovely one, a woman who one day lived to love and to be loved by himself, the main reason of their lives. In this way the title was strongly connected with the content of the poem, all of its expressions were dedicated to a woman, whose name was Annabel Lee.
    Love is presented always in the moments we live, the things we share, the people we miss, no matter if they are alive or dead but the point here is that as love exists, death too, it depends on us how we perceive he world, life, we are the inventors of our world. The poem did not have happy ending because it was not a corresponded love maybe in the past it was, but in the present the woman is in a tomb, it sounds cold and perhaps cruel, but is the reality of the story, even the reality many people live today.
    I liked the structure of the poem, also the theme and the author’s style. I consider the topic of our inspiration very important; it has to be something or somebody that provokes emotions inside us; maybe positive or negative feelings but those things which can stir our interior. Moreover, love will be always served with pain and sadness, love shows us to suffer but this suffering is an experience we have to live because that means “live”.

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  25. Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe
    This poem is known as the last complete poem written by Edgar Allan Poe, and for me it is one of the most romantic and inspiring Poe’s poems that I had ever read. Especially,if you started reading Poe’s master pieces such us “Black Cat” you will get what I mean, this poem is like a hidden part of Poe, reflecting that he fell in love,expressing how strong was this love that even angels were envious. Besides, the way in which he talked about his life with Annabel, and all the important facts that have made history in his youth is awesome in that he loved her even after her death.
    Moreover, the real love that inspires the poem is engaged with children innocence, perhaps it is true when people say that we should see the world through the eyes of a child. In that, they have a genuine and real innocence that we lose when we grow up hoping to get something that is called maturity. Maybe, this is why our relationships are not always the best, we should just give love and a real friendship in order to be happy and make people happy not in order to carry out with rules.
    To conclude, real love is not a matter of age, is a matter of sincerity, loyalty, and all the true feelings that can exist. In addition, the word “maturity” that involves us to believe that we should act appropriately according to the circumstances and the culture of the society is not everything that we need to love, and can be the consequence of our problems and our behavior that sometimes become thoughtless.

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  26. “Annabel Lee”

    To begin, this romantic poem written by Edgar Allan Poe presents us the nature’s duality between life and death, showing us the different side to fall in love and also how to keep alive the love’s flame in spite of troubles and specially the death. Each line makes reader feel a pure and a real love by him to her. At the same time, it is the way to maintain present in our mind somebody that has passed away. Moreover, it could be the Allan’s experiences, who suffered the loss of his wife which died because of tuberculosis and how he tried to get over it more easily, taking into account the beautiful things that he and she shared in the earthly life.

    Furthermore, this poem talks about painful memories shared by him with her in life, demonstrating the good and bad moments worldly together, doing reader feels sadness and happiness to have cherished someone. In my opinion Allan makes us feel that the protagonist of this poem still misses her, and as well, he wants to return the time to see her again, to give her a hug and never abandon her.

    Lastly, we must comprehend that everyone had the moment to pass away without blaming God or somebody else for that, we must accept that it is life and all is like a boomerang. Finally, we were born but we did not bring anything and we do not take anything, only our essence and our feelings.

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  27. POEM: “Annabel Lee”

    Firstly, by way of introduction, I would like to mention that Edgar Allan Poe is considered as an innovator man at writing Gothic novels, especially he is remembered by his terror and creepy stories such as: “The Black Cat “ and “The fall of the House Usher.” I feel strongly that, what is more interesting about him is related to his death, one instance could be that he knew that he was going to die, indeed, he told the doctor and his mother-in-law in regard with his death; another relevant and sad thing was that few people attended his funeral.


    Secondly, with this in mind, let us to understand his poem “Annabel Lee,” for me it was quite difficult to capture Allan Poe’s intention in the first reading, like that, I did a searching about how Annabel Lee was through some images on internet; with this media I could have a better understanding about the whole poem, for example, I saw a woman near the sea, man and woman under the moon, man observing angels’ wings and finally a passionate man kissing a beautiful woman.


    Besides, speaking critically, it seem to me that, this poet used a formal language in some words, instead of, writing the word “relative”, he used the word “kinsman” “illustrious person” by “highborn person” and “prudent man” by “wise man.” Furthermore, Edgar Allan Poe used many figures of speech; specifically, two alliterations ; “sepulcher” with ”sea” and “sounding” with “sea” ,in other words, his poem had a good structure in all the sense and the most incredible, his narration was not too long and the subject matter chosen was amazing and entertaining for any reader.


    Finally, for the great majority of people, readers and critics, a problem that is often debated nowadays is recognizing to whom the author really addressed in his literary work; perhaps nobody knows the real reason. Just we can deduce that, Annabel Lee was the main character in the poem or at least everything was involved around her, each word written , each event showed here and all the situations told by the poet were related to this woman; we can summarize that, Annabel Lee was the reason why the poem was created in this mysterious way.
    .
    Thanks for reading these lines!!!!

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  28. “Annabel Lee”

    Firstly, Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston on January 1809 and he died on October 7th 1847. He was well- known for his tales of mystery and macabre stories. In addition, Poe is considered as the inventor of the detective fiction.

    When I read the title of his work “Annabel Lee”, I imagined that this character was either a name invented by the author or it could be the name of a woman who he loved. Thus, when I first read the title I felt sadness because it sounded as the melancholic voice of a man who lived in the memories of an old love, maybe lost in his past. Besides, the poem was well organized because it was composed of six stanzas and the rhythm was so sad that the major character expressed such a strong feeling of loneliness.

    On the other hand, “Annabel Lee” was an interesting poem for me, because it showed the loneliness in which Allan Poe was immersed and the grieving for the beloved one, which filled him with sadness, as he remembered his love for Annabel Lee since they were children. Besides, the sea represented Poe’s pain because it went and came back, turning him into an unhappy man.

    Finally, I admire Allan Poe because of his style and the way of expressing his feelings, which make his readers have in their hands a melancholic poem which evokes feelings maybe hidden for Poe, because when he was a child he suffered since his father abandoned him and his mother died, allowing Poe’s life to be unhappy and lonely. For that reason, Poe looks through his poems for a way to let his feelings leave his heart.

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  29. “Anabelle Lee” is a complete poem composed by a genius writer, Edgar Allan Poe, in this poem the writer expresses his feelings about the death of a beautiful woman, who was the love of his life. Their love was so pure, perfect and strong that the angels were envious, and a wind that came out of the cloud took her apart from him. However, even if she is dead, he still loves her no matter if what he has from her are her grave, the lights from the stars and his dreams.

    On the other hand, some readers discussed whether the poem is inspired on his wife, but some details reveal that in fact is about Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe, because she was young when she died, moreover, she was the only one that he loved. Likewise, in the poem the author describes that the angels were jealous because of their flawless love, this passage explains the religious dilemma of having married his cousin, which at that period, and (Poe and Clemm’s affair) the religious traditions were strict.

    Personally, I really like this poem because it illustrates real love, it describes how just one person means everything for us, no matter if this person does not belong to us, maybe this person is married to someone else, or is dead, I think that we love just once in life and that just one beloved takes all the love we can give.

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  30. “Annabel Lee’’, written by Edgar Allan Poe, is a short poem that tells the story of a romance that took place many years ago in a "Kingdom by the Sea". The protagonists of this romance, were the narrator himself and a young woman called Annabel Lee, whose love was so strong and pure than even angels envied them. This envy made the angels send a chilling wind that killed Annabel Lee. Nevertheless, the love between the narrator and Annabel Lee lasted beyond death, as every night, lonely and devastated, he dreamed of meeting her again, saw her eyes on the stars, and then lied down by the side of her tomb near the sea.

    As far as I am concerned, the allure of this poem can be attributed to the fact that it seems to describe the author’s relationship with his wife Virginia. Even though there is no solid evidence to support this assumption, when we get to know the conditions of her illness and subsequent death, it turns out to be impossible not being wrapped emotionally by the poem. The best example of this, would probably be the extract where it is described that ‘’a wind blew out of a cloud, chilling the beautiful Annabel Lee’’. Indeed, this extract brings to mind the moment when Virginia died of tuberculosis, which is spread through the air.

    Personally, this poem grabbed my interest from the very beginning as I think it reflects superbly the feeling of uneasiness that causes the loss of a loved one. Finally, I highly recommend it for any lover of romantic poetry.

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