Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe

Poem Analysis

When choosing a poem to further research I choose to include the poem “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe. This poem has a lot of emotion behind it, as did all of Edgar Allan Poe’s writings. He had quite a few women throughout his lifetime but this poem is thought to be written about his wife, Virginia, who died before reaching her 25^th birthday. This poem is a tragic love story that explains love in a way that is untouchable. Throughout this poem there is sadness and pain and also a hole that no other love could ever feel. It is a very sad poem and as it was written from mourning I see where the author is coming from. I was confused at first before further researching this poem, because in the poem the love discussed is “childlike” and I could not fully understand why a writer who was trying to convey how much love he had for a women, would compare it to the love of a child. As I furthered my research, I found that during this time period, the love of a child was considered innocent, pure, and uncorrupted. This love was the greatest of all and that made sense as to why Edgar compared his love to that of a child’s. One other question I had that I knew if I understood I would be completely grateful is the mention of a Sepulchre. “It stands in for all of the horror of death, and gives the speaker a way to talk about losing her without explicitly saying it” (Shmoop 1). I knew that this had a greater meaning than I was imagining but I never thought, until reading this article that it stood for death in that way. This poem was a poem that was very moving and touching, I felt that it was very personal and I enjoyed all of the symbols and ideas of the poem. It honestly gives you a different approach to love in a way.

Even the themes were able to give you another understanding of this works and I believe that I’ve never really gotten as much information from one poem as I have this one. When dealing with Death and Love, you can only imagine the depths you have to cross to understand the author’s feelings, but I was able to try and I was able to have a new understanding and respect for this poem. Death is a very broad topic and a lot of poems, this semester, have covered this topic. This poem is no different yet the themes of Death and Love are tied together which I have never understood, “The poem forces us to ask whether death is the end and has the power to kill love or whether, in fact love can triumph and continue after death” (Shmoop 1). My thoughts on that statement is of course love can triumph after death. You will never stop loving someone just because they have passed away because it is in your heart. Edgar Allan Poe is realizing that and trying to battle himself in a way that he will never fully understand unless he gets to the bottom and drawls a conclusion for himself. He will always love this girl in his poem and it will always hold a place in his heart.

Works Cited

Shmoop. "Annabel Lee Theme of Mortality." Shmoop. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 July 2012.

<http://www.shmoop.com/annabel-lee/mortality-theme.html>.