Young Writers Society

Hey everyone!

The rumored Poe discussion is here! To start us out, I thought I'd share one of Edgar Allan Poe's shorter poems for us to read and discuss. I'd love to hear not only what you think of the poem, but how you think he's doing what he's doing with it! Poe is a master of suspense, so let's take a look!

Annabel Lee
BY 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 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.



To pop this discussion off, I'd like to tag a few poetry people and also ask some questions.

@alliyah @LadyBird @niteowl @PrincessInk @Amnesia @Snazzy @AutumnDawn

Questions if you want to take them up:

1) What is this poem about to you?
2) Do you think it's suspenseful? Why or why not?

Oh thanks for picking a short one!

Poe is a great story-teller and poet both - and that certainly comes out in this poem. I notice a lot of repetition of lines and words - especially end words, do you know if this poem is using a specific poetic form @Aley?

I'll jump into your discussion questions:

1) What's the poem about to me?
To me this poem tells the story of a man who was in love with a girl/woman named Annabel Lee - who died young. He still feels so lost by her death that he has begun to rationalize it with thinking that the angels themselves must have taken her away from him. He seems totally lost maybe crazy. His love, after her death, has turned into obsession to the point that he will not let her go - even sleeping by her tomb.

2)Do I find the poem suspenseful?
Yeah, the poem is a bit suspenseful at the beginning especially when everything is in past-tense. You just know that the speaker lost Annabel Lee, and we wait to find out how. And then as he rattles his explanation, it becomes sort of uncomfortable I think - because instead of it being a sweet little love poem, it's kind of obsessive and irrational.

Other Thoughts
Life vs Death Themes
At the point that the speaker calls the dead woman his "life" - though she is dead - I think as a reader for me it is confirmed that this depicts an unhealthy obsession. The life/death contrasts are interesting though - I think in a way, Annabel Lee lives on in his love for her. But in contrast the speaker has died - becoming obsessed with the non-living and non-earthly realms and even sleeping beside the grave.

Other Themes
I think that that's the interesting "catch" of this poem - when does "love" become "irrational" or "obsession". And it also explores the messiness of grief - over a love that looks like it was maybe never really lived out.

Question
Anyone have a clue if that "kingdom by the sea" stuff is a special symbol or allusion to something? I couldn't think of anything really for that, but I notice "the sea" is repeated quite a bit in the poem.

Alright, so a quick disclaimer before I dive in: I started writing poetry before I learned about the basics of poetry, if that makes a lick of sense. I didn't start learning about form or anything or even start discussing poetry until this semester during my Creative Writing class. I say all that to say I don't know how much my comments will add to discussion, but I'll give it a go! (This is fun!)

1. What is this poem about to me?

My initial thought after the first stanza was that the speaker was quite irrationally obsessed with a girl, presumably younger than the speaker because of the high diction, and perhaps in a creepy way? Maybe not quite pedophile, but as if the speaker was obsessed with loving a girl and wanted to make her the speaker's puppet (hence the "to love and be loved by me"). It isn't till the end of the second stanza that I thought that he was trying to cope with his love's death. (Or maybe even the death of Annabel Lee's love for the speaker? But the last stanza seems off for that to be right.)

The most intriguing stanza for me, however, is the fifth. The speaker references other people in this, and describes them as "older and wiser". But it didn't seem to matter, because their love had been so incredibly vast. Then the second half of the fifth stanza once again speaks about how death cannot sever the love they still hold for each other.

2. Do you think it's suspenseful? Why or why not?

I think repetition is a key tool in making this piece suspenseful and obsessive. (It may also be because I love repetition in poetry lol.) The obsessive nature of the poem seemed to grow immensely in stanza two - especially line two - with the repetition of "love". And then again in the end with "Of the beautiful Annabel Lee".

Another thing Poe does kind of stealthily to add suspense is ending some of the stanzas on something not quite finite. The first I notice is stanza 2. He takes an abrupt turn in the last line from everything about my love for Annabel Lee is gorgeous and vibrant and BAM, all of a sudden the angels are coveting them. (Which is really great word choice - more of a negative connotation than jealousy, I think.) This seems to add to the subtle dark turns/overall suspense in the poem.

The Ocean/Sea Imagery
For some reason for me, I feel as though this IS supposed to be an allusion to something. At first I was thinking if it was kind of a point towards Sirens? Because those mythical creatures were supposed to have lured sailors to their death with their singing, I think. (This poem seems sort of sing-song to me.) So I wondered if maybe things like "tomb by the sounding sea" and things were pointing towards that. That seems like kind of a long shot though, but I just kept thinking that throughout the piece and especially in that last stanza.