Edgar Allen Poe, Lenore, and Annabel Lee

Edgar Allan Poe is recognized as one of the more prominent American writers of the nineteenth century. He was born in 1809, and shortly thereafter his actress mother died. Poe was taken care of by his foster-parents, the Allans. After purposely getting dismissed from the military, Poe moved in with his aunt, eventually marrying his thirteen year old cousin, Virginia.

She dies about ten years later, and Poe dies two years after her, in 1849, under mysterious circumstances. Edgar Allan Poe is well-known for his eery and horrific short stories and poems, which tend to deal in some way with death, and usually one of the characters is a beautiful lady with a tragic role. "His sensitiveness to the beauty and sweetness of women inspired his most touching lyrics." (Britannica)Two excellent examples of Poe's works, that also include his melodic meter, which involve the death of a beautiful lady are the poems "Annabel Lee" and "Lenore."

"Annabel Lee" was written in 1849, and relates the narrator's reminisces of his childhood love with a fair maiden "whom you may know by the name of Annabel Lee." It is believed to be written about Poe's young cousin/wife, Virginia Clemm, although it is not known for sure. (Gmoser) The narrator asserts that the love between Annabel Lee and himself was so intense and pure that the angels themselves were jealous. He believes that this "love that was more than love" is the reason that an envious heaven would send forth weather that would bring illness and mortality to Annabel Lee, "chilling and killing" her.

Poe begins this poem by revealing the setting, which is "many and many a year ago, / In a kingdom by the sea." This is relevant because the distance of the time from now makes the contents into a memory, and the location by the sea helps to convey some of the imagery of Annabel Lee's "tomb by the side of the sea." The narrator admits how he lays by her entombing place during "all the night-tide," which brings more gloom to the subject matter of the death of his true love by setting the light of the environment to none except for the stars and the moon.