Poetry Prompted Writing - Romantic Period

Rough Draft:

In Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee”, the everlasting power of unattainable love is explored through the deterioration of a man lamenting over the death of his young lover, Annabel. With macabre imagery and illogical religious allusions, Poe creates a gothic narrative that depicts the more sinister aspect of traditional Romantic ideals of individualism. Ultimately, through the speaker’s grotesque dedication to Annabel transcending death, Poe imparts that imagination and romance can triumph over reality - albeit at disturbing costs.

Immediately, the speaker establishes his deep feelings of adoration within the first stanza, where he describes Annabel as living “In a kingdom by the sea” (Poe 2). Although most Romantic ideals of the time saw forces of the ocean as representing freedom and optimistic liberation, the “kingdom” in which Annabel is trapped in has daunting and mysterious connotations. In this palace far removed from the influence of societal pressures, the speaker and Annabel are able to have a loving relationship with no class hierarchy. As referenced in the poem, Annabel had “highborn kinsmen” (   ), indicating that the speaker is not of noble status, and thus could not love Annabel under the microscope of society’s watchful eyes. Although the two young child lovers were free to express their socially unacceptable desires in the “kingdom of the sea”, the love is unstable. Like the turbulent waves their love holds mysterious and frightful consequences under a calm surface. However, this metaphor also implies that like the water, their mutual admiration is simply inexhaustible.

The speaker quickly, however, moves away from the initially nostalgic tone. He introduces “the seraphs of Heaven” (     ), which he describes as having “coveted” him and Annabel’s love. This is the first indication of the speaker’s childish naivety: according to religious tradition, Heavenly seraphs (or angels) cannot be jealous of mortal love. However, the speaker persists in this illogical belief, deonstrating the Romantic ideal of tthe time, in which the beliefs of an individual are more important that conventional thinking of religious doctrines.

The speaker soon, however, begins blaming the angels in heaven for “chilling / My beautiful Annabel Lee” (    ). He claims that, out of jealousy, they “shut her up in a sepulchre / In this kingdom by the sea” ( ). In this line, the speaker’s lack of maturity is demonstrated when the childish phrase “to shut her up” is juxtaposed with the much more formal and mystical “sepulchre”. Now, the speaker no longer views the “kingdom of the sea” as providing and nurturing their love; instead, the vast stretch of water now keeps Annabel away from him, forever “chilled”.

Later, it’s revealed that the euphemism “chilled” is really the ultimate sorrow: that Annabel Lee was “killed” (    ). The speaker grows increasingly more exasperated in tone, as he cries, “Yes! - that was the reason (as all men know)” (    ), that the Heavenly angels wanted to take away their love out of jealousy. This anastrophe serves to show how the speaker is using the religious conclusions as an emotional justification for Annabel’s death.

However, this initial innovent justification grows more disturbing by the poem’s conclusion. The speaker insists that he sees visions of Annabel everywhere, after her death - “moon that never beams” (   ), and the “stars never rise / but I feel the bright eyes of the beautiful Annabel Lee” ( ).

Once again, nature is personified to create a lively image of Annabel, who ironically, becomes more and more prominent and alive in the speaker’s eyes, even though she has passed.

Finally, the speaker concludes by revealing that “my darling - my life and my bride” (   ) was never alone because he spends every night lying by her tomb. This haunting image shows thae ultimate deterioration of the irrational speaker. Although their rebellious love story was initially daring becuse they were trying not to abide by strict social rules, now, the speaker has lost all of his individuality. He has sacrificed “his life” in pursuit of a love that is physically dead.

Mentally, however, their love is everlasting. By showing that the speaker’s imagination allows him to see Annabel everywhere even though she is gone, Poe argues that dreams fundamentally can triumph over reality, even in a bleak and disturbing sense.