Introduction
Love, especially tragic love, appears to be a common theme in Romanticist literature. As a poet of this literary movement, Edgar Allan Poe contributed to the tendency with “Annabel Lee.” Its central themes are the youthful love and death of a beloved woman. The text seemingly became one of Poe’s most prominent poems, along with “The Raven.” “Annabel Lee” is surrounded by speculation regarding the autobiographical nature of the events described and the identity of the characters, potentially contributing to the text’s popularity. Some critics even equalize the narrator and Poe himself. Nonetheless, this mystery is not the only fascinating point regarding the poem. “Annabel Lee” is saturated with stylistic devices helping the author convey the ambiance and narrator’s feelings.
Main body
“Annabel Lee” is surrounded by numerous theories regarding the identity of the women in the poem. Poe’s life and upbringing are extensively documented, which gives a solid foundation for some of these theories. The most accepted one seems to be that mysterious Annabel Lee is Poe’s cousin, Virginia Eliza Clemm, whom the author married when she was thirteen years old (Savoye 287). Virginia’s age at the moment of marriage contributes to the theory as the narrator refers to the heroine as “child” and “maiden” (Poe 3,7). Furthermore, the women suffered from tuberculosis and eventually passed away, leaving Poe overwrought by grief after a decade of matrimony. Virginia’s death possibly became the source of inspiration for the poem. On the other hand, the theory is not unanimously accepted, as deciding proof does not exist. It is also suggested that the poem’s main inspiration was “Lily of Nithsdale,” a text with a similar premise, in which the narrator mourns the death of his beloved (Dumas 313). Hence, Annabel Lee could be a generalized image of women in Poe’s life or merely a figment of the poet’s gloomy fantasy.
The text in question has the form of a narrative poem, in which the narrator retells the story of his love for the heroine and her demise. “Annabel Lee” starts in a manner more common for fairytales, but “once upon a time” or “once there was” is replaced by “It was many and many a year ago, / In a kingdom by the sea” (Poe 1). It can be seen that the poet uses visual imagery and stylistic devices to liken the poem’s beginning to a magical story, emphasizing the supposed idyll in which the narrator and his beloved lived before her death. Poe paints a picturesque image of a maritime kingdom in which two young people live in harmony only to crush the image later. The idealization makes the narrative turn that follows in the second stanza more devastating in contrast.
Thematically, the poem is dedicated to love, grief, and death. The love described in “Annabel Lee” seems too pure, intense, and to a degree infantile, devoid of carnality. This characteristic is most fully pronounced in the line “I was a child, and she was a child” (Poe 7). Moreover, the description of relationships between the narrator and his beloved appears to be elevated in many instances. The second prominent theme, death, is embodied in the young and beautiful heroine. Her demise is tragic, caused by the seraphs’ envy, which accentuates the depth and force of the feelings between the narrator and Annabel Lee. The theme of grief is conveyed through the narrator, and its extent can be felt in his descriptions of the heroine. Several lines end in the phrase “Annabel Lee” – the narrator continually returns to his beloved in thoughts. In general, the three themes seem typical for the poetry of Romanticism.
Based on its form and the author’s words, “Annabel Lee” could be considered a ballad. The text has musical qualities, particularly in its rhyme scheme. “Annabel Lee” follows the “ababcb” rhyming pattern, which is similar to the one used in ballads – “abab.” The poem has a sprung rhythm and even-numbered lines, helping to perceive it as a piece of poetry that could be accompanied by an instrument (Dumas 313). As Dumas states, “Poe’s poetry is fraught with emotion which lends itself to music” (313). The poem’s musicality is further accentuated by the fact that its first publication was signed “Ludwing,” referencing Ludwig von Beethoven (Savoye 287). Furthermore, narrative nature is another characteristic that likens “Annabel Lee” to a ballad. Yet, the ultimate evidence is that Poe himself referred to the poem as such (Dumas 313). The musical nature is one of the defying characteristics in “Annabel Lee” expressed in its melodiousness, rhyming pattern, and narrative structure.
The literary devices that Poe employs also contribute to the poem’s musicality. From the first line, the poet employs assonance. In “It was many and many a year ago,” the sound /e/ is repeated several times, creating a distinct sound pattern (Poe 1). Consonance is seen in the line, “but we loved with a love that was more than love” (Poe 9). In this case the sounds /l/, / ð /, and /v/ are echoed. Additionally, another literary device is present in the previous line. The excessive repetition of world “love” emphasizes the depth of the narrator’s feelings. Matthew Bolton suggests that repetitiveness in the poem reflects the narrator’s fixation on the deceased heroine, obsessive thoughts, and grief (Studniarz 117). Indeed, “Annabel Lee” seems to be abundant with various types of repetition. For instance, in the first two stanzas, the author employs epistrophe: the phrase “Annabel Lee” is reiterated at the end of lines several times. Hence, repetition appears to be one of the primary literary devices in the text.
Conclusion
The poem in question can be viewed as an exemplary work of Romanticism. Its most prominent themes are love, death, and grief, which seems to be in line with several of Poe’s other works. The author employs a variety of literary devices to depict the love between the poem’s heroes and transmit the narrator’s grief and the sentiment of loss. “Annabel Lee” could be one of Poe’s most well-known poems, enchanting readers with a tragic love story and sonorous language.
Appendix
Works Cited
Dumas, Jacky W. “The “Annabel Lee” Blues: Re-Reading Edgar Allan Poe’s Rhythm and Rhyme Scheme.” The Comparatist, vol. 43 no. 1, 2019, p. 313–323.
Poe, Edgar Allan. Annabel Lee. Poetry Foundation.
Savoye, Jeffrey A. “The Capital Warning of “Annabel Lee”.” The Edgar Allan Poe Review, vol. 19 no. 2, 2018, p. 287-289.
Studniarz, Slawomir. “Sonority and Semantics in “Annabel Lee”.” The Edgar Allan Poe Review, vol. 16 no. 1, 2015, p. 107-125.