Essay Sample on Analysis of the Poem "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe

The poem “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe takes the form of a ballad, opening in a typical fairy tale of two lovers in a certain kingdom. It has six stanzas but with inconsistent line counts in each stanza. The personal uses first person to assert and express his feelings of love for Annabel Lee and his state of bereavement following her death (Kamarzadeh 2015). In describing the quality and strong love bond that the two shared, the persona says Annabel’s purpose was to love him as evidenced in line last two lines of the first stanza “… she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me”. Even after he lost Annabel, the persona holds onto the love they share. In many ways, the personal blame forces outside his control for the loss of her lover, but remains adamant that despite her demise, their love is still very intact. The persona also holds that the loss of her lover as a result of angels’ jealousy “the angels, not half so happy in Heaven, went envying her and me.” Not even the angels of the demons can manage to break the love bond that the two shared. The main themes identified in the poem include romantic relationships, loss of a lover, and beauty.

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The tone and the attitude employed in the poem is optimistic depicting unrelenting faith to let go of the love despite the loss of the lover. The continued holding on to love after death depicts a religious person who believes in life after death. Besides, the persona appreciates that there are angels and demons, which is akin to religious belief on heaven and hell. “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.” The expression of the existence of the soul even after death further asserts the notion of life after death, which powers the personal positive attitude to hold onto the love they shared. Also, the tone and attitude in the poem are further emphasized by the diction employed by the persona. For instance, “… shut her up in a sepulchre,” and “our love it was stronger by far than the love of those older or wiser than we” denotes defiance and anger towards the angels for their contribution of loss of his lover.

The poet has employed a number of literary devises and approaches in the poem. For starter, there is rhythm, with the main pronounce rhythm taking the format abab with the prominent /e/ vowel being the main rhyming sound. The poet also employs assonance, which is the repetition of vowel sounds in a line or a stanza. For instance, in the first line, the poet uses repetition for the vowel sound /a/ “… was many and many a year ago,” which is a perfect example of assonance. The use of the rhythm and assonance in the poem gives the poem a musical or recital characteristics, which further helps in remembering the poem. Chilk cites that rhythm in the Annabel Lee poem enhance pleasure when reading the poem and provokes one to adopt a musical tone (p. 80). The rhythm used in Annabel Lee poem is criticized by Floyd Stovall as one that creates a hypnotic effect (Studniarz, 113).

The poet also used several metaphorical expressions. For instance, the expression of both the persona and the lover as a “child” (Line 7) evokes the notions of pure and innocent love that the persona and his Annabel shares. In the same context, the persona creates contrast by describing the angels who contributed to the loss of Annabel as “highborn kinsmen” (Line 17) to evoke the feeling of old and ugly (Chilk, 43). Imagery and personification are also evidenced in the description of the chilling feeling during the death of Annabel. The poet writes “the wind came out of the cloud by night, chilling and killing my Annabel Lee” (Line 25). The wind is personified as a being capable of committing murder. There is also symbolism in the same line with “cloud by night” symbolizing the angel of death, or a dark cloud often associated with bad omen and death. The use of “Kingdom by the sea” in invites that audience to imagine the kind of life the persona and his lover enjoyed (Line 2). The repetition of the line “Kingdom by the see” symbolizes and emphasizes the happy lifestyle the two enjoyed before the angel of death snatched Annabel.

The use of connotation is also generously used and has managed to bring out feelings such as nostalgia, innocence, love, beauty and jealousy. For instance, “this maiden lived with no other thought, than to love and beloved by me,” connate the strong love that the two shared. The feeling is further emphasized by “but we loved with a love that was more than love.” The persona connate nostalgia in the expression that “our love was stronger by far than the love of … older … wiser than we.”

In conclusion, the poem, Annabel Lee depicts the feelings of true love and the anger that the lovers go through on losing their partners. The poet succeeded in passing the message through the use of several literary devices and organizing the poem in a format that can be easily recited or sung.

Work Cited

Chikh, Azeb. “The Attitude towards the Death of a Beloved in Edgar Allan Poe’s Poems: The Raven, Lenore, Ulalume, and Annabel Lee.” Dissertation Papers. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8300/db17ffeac45f79759146774cbf50762dfbb2.pdf. Accessed 14 Jul. 2020

Kamarzadeh, Sepideh. “Romanticism and New Criticism as Citical Perspectives on Edgar Allan Poe’s Annabel Lee.” International Journal of Core Engineering & Management, vol. 6, no. 12. 2015. http://ijcem.in/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Romanticism-and-New-Criticism-as-Critical-Perspectives-on-Edgar-Allan-Poes-Annabel-Lee.pdf. Accessed 14 Jul. 2020

Studniarz, Slawomir. “Sonority and Semantics in ‘Annabel Lee.’” The Edgar Allan Poe Review, vol. 16, no. 1, 2015, pp. 107–125.www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/edgallpoerev.16.1.0107. Accessed 14 Jul. 2020.