Annabel Lee Essay

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Annabel Lee Annabel Lee was the last major poem written by Edgar Allan Poe, and was published immediately after his peculiar death in 1849. It is not surprising that that Annabel Lee is a poem filled with sadness and despair, as most of the poems Poe is known for contains such content. It also deals with one of the author’s favorite subjects, the death of a young and beautiful woman. It seems that it is rather hard to separate the life of the legendary Poe from his works, at least in this case as there are a variety of similarities between the two. Poe was also in love with a young woman, his cousin Virginia Clemm, and was married to her at the age of thirteen. She died just two years before this poem was written. Though one cannot be sure as to whether or not Annabel Lee is autobiographical, it is obvious that Poe knew what he was talking about when he wrote it. All in all, this poem is a great example of Edgar Allen Poe’s unique style and subject matter. The poem Annabel Lee is about a beautiful yet painful memory. The speaker of the poem is remembering his long-lost love. It seems as if, regardless of the couple’s young age, they were seriously in love with one another. In fact, they were so in love that even the angels in heaven took notice and grew envious of the two. However, this may have been considered a bad thing because the speaker ends up blaming these angels for killing Annabel Lee. Apparently though, a wind came down from the clouds causing her to fall ill and eventually die. Her relatives then came and took her away from the speaker, shutting her up in a tomb. One thing the speaker makes very clear is that death is not going to separate him from the woman he loves. Not even angels or devils could do that. The speaker still loves Annabel Lee so much that he goes and lies with her in her tomb every night, a rather eerie yet romantic action.
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