Annabel Lee short summary & analysis

Annabel Lee - Edgar Allan Poe

Annabel Lee Analysis

Annabel Lee is a poetry book by Edgar Allan Poe and contains forty-one poems.

The poem Annabel Lee, which also is the name of the book, is about a childhood sweetheart. This is a sad love story. After Edgar Allan Poe's death, it is not clear for which woman this poem was written for.

Annabel Lee Short Summary

The poem, which begins with “it was a many and many a year ago”, takes the reader to a fairy-tale land on a seashore. There lives a young girl named Annabel Lee. The poet was still a child and fell in love with Annabel Lee. This love is not unrequited; Annabel Lee is also in love with the poet and she thinks of nothing but being the poet’s lover and loving the poet. This is such a love that even the angels in the sky envy these lovers. Unfortunately, this love won't last long. One day a cold wind blows and Annabel Lee freezes to death. The nobles took Annabel Lee, a member of the dynasty, and placed her in a grave. The poet is in deep sorrow. He blames it on the angels in the sky jealous of their love. Although Annabel Lee is dead, no one can steal her love from the poet; neither the angels in the sky, nor the older men, nor the seabed gnomes. The poet continues to fall in love with Annabel Lee. He sees him in his dreams and he lays down over Annabel Lee's grave for nights to watch the stars.

“The Conqueror Worm” is about a play that is craziness, sin and horror. In this play, there are gods and angels. People are wearing God’s masks and think they are God. But the red worm, symbolizing death, has passed its teeth into the blood of humans, and the only winner of this play is the conqueror worm.

“The Haunted Palace” poem is about the palace of a man named Thought’s Dominion. This palace symbolizes the spirit of people full of dreams.

“Bridal Ballad” poem is about a woman whose lover died in a war and is now about to marry a lord. This woman suddenly gets excited when the lord begins to speak; because his voice is just like the lover who died in the war. Suddenly she gets happy. Then they get married. Her faith was shaken and her heart was broken, but she is still happy. Her only fear is that her dead lover, the abandoned dead, is unhappy because she marries the lord.

In “Sonnet to Zante”, the poet mentions the memories of this island. some of these memories are bitter and some are sweet. What this island reminds me of is a young girl. “F…SS. O….D’A” poet says that someone who wants to be loved should be just like they are. He preaches that one should not deviate from anything they are not. It is written for a woman, “F….ye” poem, a fairy-tale, magical remote island is mentioned in which this woman takes the poet. Of course, this island is only a dream place.

“The Great Roman Theatre” poem, is about the magnificence of the Roman Empire and the abandonment of the remains of that empire.

“Lenore” poem is about a palace girl who died at a young age. She drowned in the Stygian River. The poem “To One in Paradise” is a poem written to the dead lover of the poet. In the poem “To the River”, the poet talks about his memories of the lake that he often goes to during his childhood. These memories are mixed with fear, death, love and loneliness.

Death, grave and horror themes are frequently encountered in the poems in the book. Other themes are love, memory, sadness and loneliness. Divine beings, gnomes and fairies of ancient Greek and Roman mythology sometimes appear in poems. Sometimes the poet takes us to the unique nature of his dreams. These places are mostly found in the poet's memories.

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