...and Grief of the speaker for Annabel Lee Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” is one of his most famous and well-loved poems and contains themes that appear in many of Poe’s work, such as the death and burial of a beautiful woman, undying love, and deification of her memory. It was written in 1849 and was published shortly only after Poe’s death that same year. Aside from “The Raven”, “Annabel Lee” as Brod Bagert stated is marked by a deep sadness over the loss of a loved one (4). Seeing as the structure of the poem is almost as if someone were telling a story, the audience may very well be any attentive group of listeners, listening to a love story. In the poem, the speaker is an individual love-struck by Annabel Lee. The poem's speaker describes his love and the love he shares with Annabel Lee, which began many years ago in a so-called "kingdom by the sea". Though they were young, their love for one another burned with such an intensity that as the speaker tells even the powerful forces such as death can’t keep him and Annabel Lee apart. The poem, as Dawn Sova noted recounts a love so powerful that even the angels feel envious of the bond, which transcends death and overcomes both human and cosmic forces that seek to “dissever my soul from the soul of the beautiful Annabel Lee”. (25) Every day, so overrun by grief and love, the individual (the speaker) goes into the grave of his Annabel Lee by the sea to lie down with her. Who is Annabel Lee? Let us find out who is she...
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...Community College Edgar Allan Poe: Recurring Theme By Eric Torres Professor J. Carlacio ENG 201 - 071 14 March 2014 Edgar Allan Poe: Recurring Theme Edgar Allan Poe was an inimitable poet in the world of literature. Due to intensely traumatic events that occurred in his personal life, his anxiety led to a strong emphasis on a recurring theme of death particularly a woman not only within his poems. Although the death of a woman was common amongst his work, Poe in fact held women in high regard. There were a number of women present in his life that nurtured and comforted him, but the few he chose to acknowledge and genuinely care for coincidentally would die which was a major part why Poe often went through severe episodes of depression. Poe’s depression led him to a dark emotional state and caused a constant playback of death within his mind. Mourning many years in his life his love for women and experience with death combined to form a curiosity for the unknown and he transitioned this madness into his work. Poe was deeply in love with his wife Virginia. They married each other in the year 1836. She had passed in result of what was then known as consumption to what is now known as Tuberculosis in the year 1847. Within the course of those eleven years Virginia’s presence in his life played an important role in shaping his literary work. From the first time they had met to even after her death, she inspired Poe indefinitely. In Annabel Lee Poe in a first person...
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...the way people behave. In the poem Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator experiences an attraction so strong that it transcends the living world. Poe focuses on the eternal love between the narrator and Annabel Lee; how the love between these two star-crossed lovers exists even after death. With the use of poetic devices such as tone, imagery, symbolism, repetition and rhyme, Poe tells a powerful story about love. This poem takes the form of a ballad. Poe uses this form to tell the story of the narrator and Annabel Lee. Characteristics that make this poem a ballad are its strong rhythms, repetition of key phrases and rhymes. As a ballad, this poem is very song-like. It is easy to imagine Poe reading this story of love and death intimately to a group of people. The tone of the author is both resentful and passionate. He is resentful of the angels who took Annabel away from him before her time. At the same time, he is also passionate. Poe writes, “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”, this shows that even though they have been physically separated, their love continues to grow stronger. In addition, Poe uses end rhyme to emphasize the poem’s subject. Every other line ends with an ee sound, “sea”, “me” and “we” all rhyme with Lee. This makes it clear to the reader that she important to the author. Another point to note is Poe’s use of imagery and symbolism. Poe...
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...“And darkness and decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.” These dark words could only come from one cimmerian mind: Edgar Allan Poe’s. His turbulent life impacted his writing in many ways, such as his alcoholism, all the death, and his crippling depression. These examples are seen throughout his writings. First off, the alcoholism. Poe wasted all his money on drink. Many of his characters in his stories were alcoholists. In the Black Cat, the main character abuses his animals in his intoxicated state. In the Cask of Amontillado, Fortunato the drunken fool is walled up. Poe was often drunk when alone. Also, Poe’s life was filled with death. It seemed to follow him everywhere he went. His mother and father died when he was...
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...In life, as in death, Edgar Allan Poe evoked a feeling of sympathy from his readership. Those who knew him well considered him deep, mysterious and contemplative; thus, coupled with the copious tragedies he suffered throughout his life, especially the loss of his first wife Virginia, it is easy to understand how the author brings out the theme of Annabel Lee through personal/setting imagery, repetition of words and rhythm/rhyme. Annabel Lee honors the memory of Poe's deceased wife, Virginia. Throughout the poem, his use of personal imagery helps the reader to grasp the intense feelings of loss he continues to experience long after her passing. The setting imagery is critical to this particular literary piece, in that it is through setting that one gains a significantly better realization of his anguish. A passage from what came to be the last poem written by Poe before his death illustrates his torment. Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat" is a story of how an arguably demonic, manipulating black cat ruins the life of its master. After being maimed and murdered by its once loving owner, the cat is reincarnated and finds its way back to its murderer to seek revenge. The story, however, does not focus so much on the actions of the cat, but rather the actions of its unfortunate master. The story is narrated from the point of view of a condemned, remorseful man who recalls the violent actions that placed him in his current...
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...Kazi Kabir ENC 2000-12068 Poetry Analysis 1 March 2, 2016 Word Count: “Annabel Lee:” A Tragic Love Poem Analysis "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe is a true love story ending with tragedy, and the author set the poem step-by-step with a logical sequence known as a narrative poem. He wrote this poem immediately after the death of his first wife Virginia Clemm. He married his thirteen year-old cousin, and he also faced financial difficulties. He writes down this romantic and tragic poem to remember his childhood love, and the poem tells us that Poe still has a very strong feeling in his heart for his dead wife. The young Poe is the speaker of this poem; he tells us about his true love with his sympathetic, heartbroken and sorrowful feeling. The poem "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe tells us about his childhood love, the love ending with a painful tragedy. Poe uses imagery, symbolism, and repetition to tell us the memory of his love, the one he has lost, known as Annabel Lee. The narrator is the speaker in the poem "Annabel Lee;" he explains his true love using his imagination throughout the entire poem. He uses vivid imagery to tell us how he lost his beloved one, Annabel Lee. In the beginning of the poem, the speaker mentions his personal feeling and appreciation about his childhood love: "She loved me no other thought, / Than to love and be loved by me" (5-6). Additionally, the poem’s third and fourth stanzas show Poe uses his mental imagination to explain how he lost...
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...The life of Edgar allan changed a lot of things, but him more than anyone. The ultimate downfall of his life and early death was foreshadowed in his young childhood. On January 19, 1809, Edgar Poe was born to a professional actor and actress by the name of David Poe, Jr. and Elizabeth Arnold. He was the second son that these two had, but it didn’t last long because David went on a trip to New York where he decided to desert his family when Poe was one year old. After two years Elizabeth gave birth to another daughter; however, after this birth Elizabeth fell very ill. She died later that year on December 8, 1811 at the age of 24 to Tuberculosis. Young Edgar was between the age of two and three at the time of her death. All of his siblings were...
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...The Life of Edgar Allan Poe Does grief benefit writers? The idea is that sadness, despair, and heartache may be channeled and applied for creativity as emotional inspiration. A well known example is Edgar Allan Poe, who suffered from poverty, was orphaned before age three, and fought alcoholism during most of his life. After meeting and falling in love with his cousin, Virginia, Poe was not aware he’d have to endure the pain of losing her like so many of his loved ones before. He once stated, "The death of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world." (citation?) If it had not been for the tragic illness and death of Virginia, Poes' work may not have been as good or memorable, and we may not have gained some of...
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...Edgar Allan Poe’s poems “To Helen”, “Annabel Lee”, and “The Raven” are unique poems. Poe was a very interesting writer. He wrote numerous poems about his life and how it affected him along the line. Poe had a very sad, mad, depressing life when it started the age of 2 years old. Also, didn’t get over with until he died at age 40. Poe’s poems that we read in class are a lot alike because they all had something to do somewhere in his lifespan. They all talk about how he lost someone very close people to him. Also, Poe had decided that he wanted to write about them in his poems. How are the three poems “To Helen”, “Annabel Lee”, and “The Raven” alike? Poe’s poems are alike because he writes about people and love in his poems. They all have something...
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...Nicole Crespo Professor Tomko WRT 201 27 April 2015 The Beautiful “Annabel Lee” In his poem “Annabel Lee” Edger Allen Poe writes about a forbidden love that ends in a horrible tragedy. Poe uses many elements of poetry such as imagery to give the reader an impression of profoundness, symbolism to give a sense of setting, and tone to let the reader know the feelings behind the poem. With the elements of poetry the readers better understand used Poe’s theme of eternal love. It also helps us have an insight of how Poe’s perspective on the idea of love was to him. Given the background Poe’s life wasn’t an easy one which can be seen in the Poem Annabel Lee. In the poem, Poe uses visual imagery to describe many different scenes in the poem. One for example is when he describes the death of Annabel Lee, “ that the wind came out of the cloud by the night, chilling and killing my Annabel Lee”. (25) This quote shows how Poe wanted his readers to get a visual of a tragic cold night that resulted in the death of a woman. The poem is written in a musical way, one can imagine the cold night. The reader could feel it chilling themselves and could feel the heart break of the young lover’s death. Another example of imagery is when Poe writes, “So that her highborn kinsman came And bore her away from me, To shut her up in a sepulcher In this kingdom by the sea” (17-20) the image given is her family taking her away from her lover to lock her up in a vault by the sea where she...
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...Contrast between the Raven and Annabel Lee “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee” are the two famous poems they are both written by the author Edgar Allan Poe's. Poe's was best known “fiction works are Gothic (combination of both horror and romance), as this two poems are”. Poe’s themes and style of poems deals with questioning of death and lost love. He loved his wife “Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe”. The author’s wife Virginia died because of “tuberculosis”. In fact, both “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee” stories are about loss of his love, and the hoping of reuniting with her wife someday. Both of the stories deal with religious concepts of souls, angels and demons. These two stories illustrate Romanticism as symbolized by love, emotion, imagination. Both of these stories are haunting yet show how beautiful their love was. Both of these stories have similarity and differences. “The Raven” is narrative poem, it was written in year 1845. The poem shows the emotions of a young man whose wife Lenore died. The Raven is a bird. The bird is the representation of death, and the loss of Lenore. The bird only speaks one word "Nevermore” and that is the...
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...Kayla Delury Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe’s writing is known throughout the world. He was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe had an awful childhood. His Dad, David Poe, abandoned the family soon after Poe was born. His Mom, Eliza Poe, died two years later because of tuberculosis. After his mother’s death, his infant sister and brother were separated. His brother was sent to live with their biological grandparents. Poe moved to Richmond, Virginia to live with John and Fannie Allan; his sister was taken in by another family in Richmond. Poe and John Allan’s relationship suffered greatly making Poe having to make some hard decisions for his future. Poe attended the University of Virginia in 1926. He started gambling and became in debt. However, John Allen refused to pay leading Poe to withdraw from the University. Poe’s best known works include such masterpieces as Annabel Lee, The Raven, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Mask of the Red Death, The Murders of the Rue Morgue, and many others. Each and every one of these titles, share one common trait that is more than obvious, they all deal with death. When these titles of the books take over the attention, it is only normal that the main part of Poe’s work should see to be known as nightmares. Poe married Virginia Clemm, his thirteen year old cousin in, 1936. When Virginia died in 1947, Poe became depressed and lost his motivation in writing. In 1849, Poe became engaged to marry the widowed Sarah...
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...Edgar Allan Poe 1 Edgar Allan Poe “The Life and Tragedies of Edgar Allan Poe” Jesse T. Smith Axia College of University of Phoenix Professor Lorelie Kaid October 19, 2008 E.A.P. 2 Edgar Allan Poe “The Life and Tragedies of Edgar Allan Poe” The famous writer, poet has long been criticized for his unconditional writings that made the man who he was so very famous for. Edgar Allan Poe, born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809, Died mysteriously, October 07, 1849 in Baltimore, Maryland. The famous writer would go on to inspire such authors as Ray Bradbury and Stephen King, to name a few. There has been a mystery since the death of Edgar Allan Poe, of what caused his death. There have been many writing’s trying to settle this debate. Some are as follows. • Beating (1857) The United States Magazine Vol. II (1857): 268. • Epilepsy (1875) Scribner’s Monthly Vol. 10 (1875):...
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...Edgar A. Poe was an American Writer, born in Chelsea, Massachusetts in1809. In his career, Edgar wrote famous stories that will be always remembered, like The Raven, The Tell-Tale Heart, and Annabel Lee and one of the most famous phrase that he said was “I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity”. On October 7, 1848 he died and the reason why is still is a mystery. Some of the theories are Alcoholism, Rabies, Poisson and Gas Lighting. Because of the symptoms, proves, and Studies a valid theory of his death could be Gas lighting. To begin with some hints that prove that Gas lighting was the reason of his death is that Gas lighting produces Carbon Monoxide. Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas that could have poisoned him, causing...
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...West Point College. (Allen 233) The poem itself is a direct contrast to Poe's usual poetry, which usually deal with death and dark thoughts or other melancholy, Gothic ideas. Poe's idea of the death of beautiful woman being the most poetical of all topics is here, nowhere to be found. This proves that Poe, when so inclined, could indeed write about something other than opium induced nightmares and paranoid grieving men who are frightened to death by sarcastic, talkative, ravens. Besides "Israfel", Poe's other poetry, "To Helen", as well as "Annabel Lee" and others, are virtually unrecognizable to the everyday reader as being works by Edgar Allan Poe. His name is usually associated with his tales of horror and the macabre. His one poem, "The Raven", a work which deals with a mans steady decline into madness, is probably his most recognizable piece of poetry. A situation, which I feel is unfortunate, considering that the aforementioned are in most cases the equal to "The Raven." Scholars have bestowed upon Edgar Allan Poe, the mantle of "horror writer" a crown which does him a great injustice considering the great variety of works that he wrote and the passion which drove him during his writing. It is this passion that is evident in "Israfel." The Poem itself draws heavily on Arabian and Oriental literature, subjects which fascinated Poe.(Allen 249) Supernatural elements, which are strong in all of Poe's works and a basic concept of all the Romantics, are represented here, as...
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