Why Do You Remember This Poem? Reading, Summary, and Analysis of Poe's "Annabel Lee"

"Annabel Lee" raises more questions than it does answers - not surprising considering it's by the master of mystery, Edgar Allen Poe. As Poe's last complete poem, "Annabel Lee" is intrinsically tied to his mysterious life and the even more mysterious way it ended.
Join us for a reading, summary, and analysis of Edgar Allen Poe's haunting and beautiful tragic love poem - "Annabel Lee."
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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.
I 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.
1849

[@dianar.2990]

This is my favorite poem. I remember this poem from when I was in 6th grade. It was read to us as we followed along. I remember being sad and even crying a little. I'm now 39 and still have the same reaction to it. It is this poem that led me to read all of Mr. Poe's poems and stories.

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Thank you so much for sharing your story! This poem has stuck with me for many decades as well.

[@edmardordado4384]

since 2006 'til now 2024,still can't forget this poem!...love it very much!...

[@Dr.Pepper001]

I think that the character of the man in the poem is not a deviant or in any way a weird person. I believe that he is a hopeless romantic, yes. Poe was a contemporary of Victor Hugo and surely must have read some of Hugo's works. The character Quasimodo in _The Hunchback of Notre-Dame_ was also a hopeless romantic. In the end he threw himself into the pauper's grave where Esmeraldo's body was placed, gathered her corpse in his arms, and died holding her to his chest. Poe's protagonist so loved Annabelle Lee that he preferred even the periodic presence of her lifeless body to always being apart from her. So each night he would go sleep by Annabelle Lee's sepulcher. BTW, Stevie Nicks put this poem to music. It's on KZbin.

[@James-pq7nf]

its sad and beautiful at the same time

[@keegs32]

This is my favorite a Poe poem

[@anabain]

This poem is philosophical. Annabel Lee is reality, the "object" (even The Idea/Form of Good), and the poet is the "subject" (or the "soul"). This is far more platonic than it seems. Far more, if you look at it closely.

[@mahala3able]

What if Poe found himself wandering in the dark shadows of his own depression, feeling a heavy burden of sorrow and guilt from ghosts of his past. He mostly likely penned Annabel Lee after his engagement to Elmira Shelton, who was a childhood sweetheart of his, but perhaps he couldn't escape the haunting feeling of Virginia's ghost, he died in Baltimore, which was where he met Virginia. Perhaps his feelings of guilt to rewed a childhood sweetheart was something he meant to confront or revisit in a tavern of the town where they met. Maybe he set to bury her memory like some would do, finding answers and freedom from woes at the bottom of the bottle. Maybe he thought to lay it all to rest and start new with an old flame from his childhood, but there was no bottle deep enough to drown the demons and darkness. No proof strong enough to end the dreams. Wanting nothing more than to love and be loved, having something sacred and sanctified, the heaven on earth he had always dreamed of and that others seemed to have so effortlessly. Perhaps it was her memory, the love shared, what once was, and what could have been that was the poison cocktail that did him in?

[@ssake1_IAL_Research]

As an independent researcher whose research of the past 15 years has included the origins of this poem, I am convinced that Poe wasn't the author. I believe that the real author was Mathew Franklin Whittier, younger brother of poet John Greenleaf Whittier, who wrote it without intent to publish, after the death of his wife, Abby. She died in March of 1841. Mathew would have unwisely shared this poem, "The Raven," and "Some Words with a Mummy" with Poe in early 1842. In early 1845, Mathew published "The Raven" anonymously in "American Review" under the pseudonym, "---- Quarles." Poe, in his capacity as a reviewer for the NY "Evening Mirror," obtained an advance copy of the February edition. Thinking fast, he convinced his editor it was his poem, replaced Mathew's pseudonym with his own name, and published it under his name three days before "American Review" came out. (Poe left the "Evening Mirror" soon afterwards--probably fired for lying). Somehow, he knew that Mathew was not in a position to publicly defend against his scam. But Mathew must have warned Poe, "If you publish the other poem, I'll expose you." That's why Poe never published "Annabel Lee" in his lifetime. Originally, it would have been written by Mathew to his late wife, "Abigail P----" ("P" for her maiden name, "Poyen"), and the last stanza would have had Abby visiting him nightly in dreams, which is something Mathew wrote about in other poems.

[@blixtgo]

Hahaha. Sure baby, and the moon is made of green cheese.

[@ibaaafifa8784]

😍😍😍🥰🥰🥰Amazing !!!!!It is a masterpiece

[@carbonc6065]

Annabel ... repeating ... Tolling ...

[@Deathist]

Thank you 🖤

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

You’re welcome. Thanks for watching!

[@crystalmarijancevic1177]

True,their love cannot be severed even by death, because love is an energy and according to psyics energy can not be destroyed,only transferred.LOVE IS FOREVER BETWEEN THE WRITER AND ANNABELLE LEE.....

[@ErinGillen-qt5ft]

Is there any way to get captions for this video?

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Other than the KZbin generated ones, I'm not sure. I used to go in and manually upload subtitles for all my videos, but they phased out that feature...

[@ErinGillen-qt5ft]

@@OxfordCommaEducation This video doesn't have the KZbin generated ones for some reason. Thank you though!

[@RichardGao-ku5vs]

Why is this poem called Annabel lee?

[@johnmichaelmagadia6896]

why sea makes it happens why let him kills his love for salvation of the sea. romantic tradegy. dont judge me this my analysis is condemsion and confession. when you analize author himself from the start until the end and the rest are symbolized the scenery of the romatic tradegy he knows himself to what is love happening in life until death. he confess to sea as world asking for changing their destiny.

[@johnmichaelmagadia6896]

sacrificed for salvation.

[@johnmichaelmagadia6896]

guest to whom author or anabelee is dead for/of his love

[@asas0404]

I guess Poe was referring to someone else in the poem?or all of this was delusional as he might be a hopeless romantic so he created this story out of his imagination hoping to live a similar one,unexpectedly he ended up dead

[@martarodriguez5190]

This reading has no soul. It sounds like a robot.

[@OxfordCommaEducation]

Like tears in rain ...

[@keegs32]

You just don’t understand because you’ve probably never experienced a real loss and you’re probably not an artist