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Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Annabel Lee

Annabel Lee

By Edgar Allan Poe

 

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.

 

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 wingèd 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 kinsmen 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 her sepulchre there by the sea—

   In her tomb by the sounding sea.

 

"Annabel Lee" is the last complete poem composed by American author Edgar Allan Poe. Like many of Poe's poems, it explores the theme of the death of a beautiful woman. In my opinion, "Annabel Lee" is Poe's most hauntingly beautiful poem. The narrator, who fell in love with Annabel Lee when they were young, has a love for her so strong that even angels are envious. He retains his love for her after her death. There has been debate over who, if anyone, was the inspiration for "Annabel Lee." Though many women have been suggested, Poe's wife Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe is one of the more credible candidates. For whoever was the inspiration, it is obvious that Poe truly loved her. Annabel Lee" was written in 1849 but not published until shortly after Poe's death that same year.

5 comments:

  1. There are many stories of troubled loves that end badly like Romeo and Juliet . It's very sad .

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Joe,

    This was such a beautiful post (and you have many). Have you heard Stevie Nicks' "Annabel Lee" song from her "Dreams" album. If you haven't check it out, it even brings much more beauty to this haunting poem by Poe. I check you out everyday, alas I do not comment much. Know that your editorial posts about religion and faith are much appreciated.

    PS: Edit your settings on your blog so we can enlarge your pics of the day! ;-)

    Best,
    Chris

    ReplyDelete
  3. Chris, I had never heard heard Stevie Nicks' "Annabel Lee," so thank you for sharing that. It's a very interesting composition. I've always liked Stevie Nicks. She's so wonderfully strange in her witchy ways.

    When I was in high school, I represented my school at the Model Senate that was held at Birmingham Southern College. Sadly, they don't seem to do it anymore, which, with the current state of politics, is probably a good thing. Anyway, we each had to portray a real current senator. I was Alabama's Howell Heflin, whom I always admired. Anyway (and there is a point to this), the Democrats filibustered one of the bills the Republicans put forward. This was back when you actually had to continue talking for a filibuster. The guy who was portraying Paul Simon of Illinois (a really cute guy who wore a bowtie the whole time, just like Simon did in the Senate), led our filibuster and recited "Annabel Lee" over and over until we were all so ready for him to stop that even the Democrats voted for cloture. Even though I heard "Annabel Lee" repeated so many times that day, I still thought it was a lovely and haunting poem.

    While I love the poetry of Robert Frost, I have always had a love for Poe's poetry, especially "The Raven," "Annabel Lee," and "The Bells." I will be posting "The Raven" next week for Halloween, but I doubt I will ever post "The Bells" because it's such a long poem.

    Anyway, I am glad you that enjoy this blog enough to read it every day, and it's always nice to hear from regular readers.

    As for changing the settings so everyone can enlarge the pics of the day, I always try to find the version of a picture with the highest resolution. For me, if you right-click on the picture and open it in a new tab, you should get the full resolution of the image. If that doesn't work, sadly, I don't know how to fix it otherwise. However, if that does not work, you might try going to my backup blog on WordPress (closetprofessor.com) and trying the same thing with right-clicking. If you are still having issues, let me know and I will try and figure it out.

    Joe

    ReplyDelete
  4. For Chris
    There is not a magnifying glass on your PC, I open it from "..." at the top right.

    ReplyDelete
  5. vous me donnez envie de me repencher plus avant sur l'oeuvre de Baudelaire qui traduisit Allan Poe, merci, j'ai trouvé MON cadeau d'aniversaire

    ReplyDelete

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