Romanticism Theory

Literary Genre: POETRY

ANNABEL LEE

Edgar Allan Poe

Romanticism Literary Theory is most closely associated with the writings of William Wordsworth in his Preface to Lyrical Ballads(1800) and Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his Biographia Literaria (1817). Modern critics disagree on whether the work of Wordsworth and Coleridge constituted a major break with the criticism of their predecessors or if it should more properly be characterized as a continuation of the aesthetic theories of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century German and English writers.

The Poem:

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.

THE INTERPRETATION:

The poem Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe is a perfect example of the Romanticism period that started in Europe. The most prominent qualities of Romanticism are nature, emotion, love, spirituality, and the supernatural. Annabel Lee is poem that is very tragic, emotional, and descriptive.

The narrator goes through the poem and describes his love (which began many years ago in an unnamed "kingdom by the sea"), Annabel Lee, her beauty, and then her death. When Annabel Lee tragically dies, the narrator says that the angels up in heaven were jealous of the love and happiness they shared, and therefore took Annabel Lee's life. It is very clear that the narrator's love for Annabel Lee is eternal, and their love is strong enough to extend beyond the grave. The narrator deeply believes that their souls are still entwined. Every night, he dreams of Annabel Lee and sees the brightness of her eyes in the stars, even admitting that every night he lies down by her side in her tomb by the sea.

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