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>.

"Annabel Lee" Edgar Allan Poe

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 winged 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 kinsman 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 the sepulchre there by the sea,

In her tomb by the sounding sea.
In her tomb by the sounding sea.      

Roberts, Edgar V., and Robert Zweig. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and

Writing. Boston: Longman, 2012. Print. Edgar Allan Poe. Annabel Lee. Page 898-899.

mysticxingjing16. Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe. Onlive Video Clip. YouTube. 31 May 2007

"We Real Cool" By Gwendolyn Brooks

We real cool. We

Left school. We

Lurk late. We

Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We  

Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We  

Die soon.

 

Roberts, Edgar V., and Robert Zweig. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Boston: Longman, 2012. Print. Gwendolyn Brooks. We Real Cool. Page 887.

 

Gwendolyn Brooks. Poetictouch2012. We Real Cool. Online Video Clip. YouTube. 22 Jan 2012

"When you are Old" by William Butler Yeats

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.   

 

Roberts, Edgar V., and Robert Zweig. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Boston: Longman, 2012. Print. William Butler Yeats. When you are Old. Page 863.

 

 

 

PoeticTouch2012. Colin Farrell. William Butler Yeats When You are Old. Online Video Clip. YouTube. 13 Oct 2011

"Homage to my Hips" by Lucille Clifton

These hips are big hips.
they need space to
move around in.
they don't fit into little
petty places. these hips
are free hips.
they don't like to be held back.
these hips have never been enslaved,
they go where they want to go
they do what they want to do.
these hips are mighty hips.
these hips are magic hips.
i have known them
to put a spell on a man and
spin him like a top!

Roberts, Edgar V., and Robert Zweig. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and

Writing. Boston: Longman, 2012. Print. Lucille Clifton. Homage to my Hips. Page 838.

MandaCakeParty. Homage to my Hips. Online Video Clip. YouTube. 3 April 2011

The Nympth's Reply to the Shepherd By Sir Walter Ralegh

If all the world and love were young,
And truth in every shepherd's tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee and be thy love.

Time drives the flocks from field to fold,
When rivers rage and rocks grow cold;
And Philomel becometh dumb;
The rest complain of cares to come.

The flowers do fade, and wanton fields
To wayward winter reckoning yields;
A honey tongue, a heart of gall,
Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.

Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy bed of roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies,
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten,
In folly ripe, in reason rotten.

Thy belt of straw and ivy buds,
Thy coral clasps and amber studs,
All these in me no means can move
To come to thee and be thy love.

But could youth last and love still breed,
Had joys no date nor age no need,
Then these delights my mind might move
To live with thee and be thy love.

 Roberts, Edgar V., and Robert Zweig. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and

Writing. Boston: Longman, 2012. Print. Sir Walter Ralegh. The Nymphs reply to the Shepherd. Page 735-736

Sarah Coyne. "The Nymphs Reply to the Shepherd" By Sir Walter Ralegh. online video clip. YouTube. 12 Dec 2011. 

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love By Christopher Marlowe

Come live with me and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove That valleys, groves, hills, and fields, Woods, or steepy mountain yields. And we will sit upon rocks, Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks, By shallow rivers to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals. And I will make thee beds of roses And a thousand fragrant poises, A cap of flowers, and a kirtle Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle; A gown made of the finest wool Which from our pretty lambs we pull; Fair lined slippers for the cold, With buckles of the purest gold;   A belt of straw and ivy buds, With coral clasps and amber studs; And if these pleasures may thee move, Come live with me, and be my love.   The shepherds's swains shall dance and sing For thy delight each May morning: If these delights thy mind may move, Then live with me and be my love.

 Roberts, Edgar V., and Robert Zweig. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and

Writing. Boston: Longman, 2012. Print. Christopher Marlowe. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love. Page 733.

t4tinsley. "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" By Christopher Marlowe. Online Video Clip. YouTube. 18 June 2008.

"A Further Proposel" By Allen Ginsberg

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will some old pleasures prove.
Men like me have paid in verse
This costly courtesy, or curse;

But I would bargain with my art
(As to the mind, now to the heart),
My symbols, images, and signs
Please me more outside these lines.

For your share and recompense,
You will be taught another sense:
The wisdom of the subtle worm
Will turn most perfect in your form.

Not that your soul need tutored be
By intellectual decree,
But graces that the mind can share
Will make you, as more wise, more fair,

Till all the world's devoted thought
Find all in you it ever sought,
And even I, of skeptic mind,
A Resurrection of a kind.

This compliment, in my own way,
For what I would receive, I pay;
Thus all the wise have write thereof,
And all the fair have been their love.

Roberts, Edgar V., and Robert Zweig. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and

Writing. Boston: Longman, 2012. Print. Allen Ginsberg. A Further Proposal. Page 723.

"The Man He Killed" By Thomas Hardy

Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!

But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.

I shot him dead because-
Because he was my foe.
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That's clear enough; although

He thought he'd list perhaps
Off-hand like- just as I-
Was out of work- had sold his traps-
No other reason why.

Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half a crown.

Roberts, Edgar V., and Robert Zweig. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and

Writing. Boston: Longman, 2012. Print. Thomas Hardy. The Man He Killed. Page 656.

Pearls of Wisdom. "The Man He Killed" By Thomas Hardy. Online Video Clip. YouTube. 13 March 2012.

"Because I Could Not Stop for Death" By Emily Dickinson

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Because I could not stop for Death He kindly stopped for me The Carriage held but just Ourselves And Immortality. We slowly drove – He knew no haste And I had put away My labor and my leisure too, For His Civility We passed the School, where Children strove At Recess – in the Ring We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain We passed the Setting Sun Or rather – He passed us The Dews drew quivering and chill For only Gossamer, my Gown My Tippet – only Tulle We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground The Roof was scarcely visible The Cornice – in the Ground Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses' Heads Were toward Eternity –

Roberts, Edgar V., and Robert Zweig. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and         Writing. Boston: Longman, 2012. Print. Emily Dickinson. Because I Could Not Stop for Death. Page 653-654. Spoken Verse. "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" By Emily Dickinson. Reading Video Clip. YouTube. 17 November 2009.

"The Mother" by Gwedolyn Brooks

Poemseveryday. "The Mother" By Gwendolyn Brooks. Online Movie Clip. YouTube. 26 June 2012

"The Mother" by Gwendolyn Brooks

Abortions will not let you forget.
You remember the children you got that you did not get,
The damp small pulps with a little or with no hair,
The singers and workers that never handled the air.
You will never neglect or beat
Them, or silence or buy with a sweet.
You will never wind up the sucking-thumb
Or scuttle off ghosts that come.
You will never leave them, controlling your luscious sigh,
Return for a snack of them, with gobbling mother-eye.
I have heard the voices of the wind the voices of my dim killed children.
I have contracted. I have eased
My dim dears at the breasts they could never suck.
I have said, Sweets, if I sinned, if I seized
Your luck
And your lives from your unfinished reach,
If I stole your births and your names,
Your straight baby tears and your games,
Your stiltedor lovely loves, your tumults, your  marriages, aches, and your deaths,
If I poisoned the beginnings of your breaths,
Believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate.
Though why should I whine,
Whine that the crime was other than mine?-
Since anyhow you are dead.
Or rather, or instead,
You were never made.
But that too, I am afraid,
Is faulty: oh, what shall I say, how is the truth to be said?
You were born, you had a body, you died.
It is just that you never giggled or planned or cried.

Believe me, I loved you all.
Believe me, I knew you, though faintly, and I loved, I loved you
All.

Roberts, Edgar V., and Robert Zweig. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and

Writing. Boston: Longman, 2012. Print. Gwendolyn Brooks. The Mother. Page 652-653.