"Annabel Lee" is one of Edgar Allan Poe's most-famous poems.

Was it autobiographical?

The story is told that a young woman - named Annabel Lee - was part of a wealthy Charleston
family. She fell in love with a Virginia sailor who was stationed in that South Carolina port town. The
navy man wanted to marry the Southern girl.

However ... Annabel Lee's father did not approve of her suitor. Not only that ... he absolutely forbade
his daughter to even see him.

Love prevailed, however ... at least for a time ... and the couple met in a local cemetery (where they
thought no one would spot them). One day the suspicious father followed Annabel Lee. When he
realized that his daughter had disobeyed him, he had her locked inside her bedroom.

The sailor had no choice. He could no longer spend time with his great love.

Soon thereafter, Annabel Lee contracted yellow fever and died of the dreaded sickness.

After the young sailor learned that his love had died, he returned to Charleston to see her one last
time. It did him no good, however.

Annabel Lee's father refused to even let the young man know where his daughter would be buried.
He had grave sites in the family plot "dug up," to keep his daughter's friend from learning the exact
location of her remains.

That cruelty caused the young Virginian to grieve over the entire plot.

"Annabel Lee" - the poem - sounds like the story behind the Charleston legend. One of two things
could be possible:

 Poe heard the story when he was in the Army and stationed at Fort Moultrie (which is located on
Sullivan Island, near Charleston); or

 The story is about Poe himself. Local lore has it that he and a real girl, named Annabel Lee Ravenel,
were close friends during Poe's tour of duty at Ft. Moultrie (during 1827-28). If this story is true, the
young man who was turned-away - by the prominent Mr. Ravenel - was the future writer of the poem.

We will never know the real story behind this famous work. As far as anyone knows, Poe left no
notes about it.

Setting The narrator (persona) writes about a fictional kingdom along the ocean shore. It is an idyllic, beautiful, land of
enchantment–a paradise on earth–where he and Annabel Lee fell in love as adolescents. One can imagine that they
strolled the beaches, hand in hand, in gentle breezes while the sun went down and the tide rushed in. This kingdom,
where love ruled their hearts, remains dear to the memory of the poet after Annabel Lee dies, for his soul remains united
with hers.
Characters Narrator (persona): A man of deep sensibility who extolls a young maiden with whom he fell deeply in
love. Annabel Lee: Beautiful young maiden loved by the poet. She was of noble birth, as Line 17 of Stanza 1 suggests
when it says she had “highborn" relatives. Annabel Lee probably represents Poe's wife, who died at a young
age. Seraphs: Members of the highest order of angels around the throne of God. According to the Bible, they each had
three pairs of wings. In the poem, the seraphs are so envious of the love between the narrator and Annabel Lee that they
cause Annabel’s death. Relative of Annabel Lee: A “highborn kinsman" (Line 17, Stanza 1) who carries away and
entombs her body

THEMES

Theme Eternal love. The love between the narrator and Annabel Lee is so strong and beautiful and pure that even the
seraphs, the highest order of angels in heaven, envy it. They attempt to kill this love by sending a chilling wind that kills
Annabel Lee. However, the love remains alive–eternal–because the souls of the lovers remain united. The death of a
beautiful woman is a common theme in Poe’s writing.

LOVE

Love is definitely the major theme of "Annabel Lee." Even if it's a little twisted in places, this is a poem
about love. At its foundation it's about a guy who loves a girl, and refuses to quit loving her. The cool
thing about this theme is that the poem doesn't stick to the sunny side of love. It digs deep into the
dangerous parts of these emotions, the way love can trap you, torment you, and leave you sad and
lonely. Love has made this guy who he is, but it's also clear that it has ruined his life. One day he's a
happy kid with a girlfriend he loves a lot, the next thing we know he's sleeping next to a corpse every
night. Love's a funny thing…

Questions About Love

1. Is this poem a positive or a negative depiction of love? Is this how true love should look?
2. How does the poem compare romantic and parental love?
3. Does death always make love weaker? Do you believe it could make it stronger? How would
the speaker respond to this question?
4. Does the depiction of the speaker's love change as the poem goes on?

Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
While this poem begins as an expression of true love, it ends as a dark warning about the danger of
obsession.

The intensity of the speaker's love in "Annabel Lee" is a sign of his mental instability.

MORTALITY
If love is the champion theme in "Annabel Lee," then mortality definitely comes in a close second. The
speaker is obsessed with how and why Annabel died. He wants to know who he can blame for it. At
the same time, the themes of death and love are tied together. 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. Maybe the speaker takes that idea a little more literally than he should, but that's his business.
In a general way, we can all relate to the ideas of grief and loss and fate that come up when you talk
about death.

Questions About Mortality

1. Do you think the speaker of this poem believes in life after death? Does that question matter in
the context of "Annabel Lee."
2. Why do you think he has to blame the jealous angels for Annabel's death?
3. How do you draw the line between healthy and unhealthy grief? Do you think this poem has
something to say about that difference?
4. Would you want to be remembered like this by your boyfriend or girlfriend?

Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Poe's portrait of excessive grief shows us the consequences of refusing to accept death as a fact of
life.

Poetry becomes a tool which the speaker can use to transcend death. This poem offers a way of
keeping his beloved Annabel alive.

FAMILY

This theme doesn't come up nearly as often as love and death, but it's a really neat and important
part of "Annabel Lee." This isn't a long poem, but Poe manages to weave all kinds of different themes
into it. In this case he gives us just a hint that Annabel's family doesn't think much of him, and wants
to tear the young lovers apart. In a sense, family gives him a way of talking about the pressure of
outside society, all the people who can't understand how pure and true his love is. This is definitely an
"us against the world," Romeo and Juliet kind of poem.

Questions About Family

1. Parents are always complaining about how teenagers think they know everything. Do they
sometimes? Do parents have any right to tell their kids who they can love?
2. What does including the "highborn kinsmen" add to this poem? How would it change things if
Poe had left them out?
3. Do you think the speaker feels the same way about Annabel's kinsmen as he does about the
jealous angels? If not, how are they different?

Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
The presence and the actions of Annabel's family help to show the distance between the speaker's
attitude and those of the larger society.
The family, like the angels and the demons, is the symbol of a repressive, alienating, evil world, in
which the only beautiful thing is the love of Annabel Lee.

SUPERNATURAL

Not only are the adults in this poem against the young lovers, it turns out that heaven and hell are
lining up against them too. At least that's the speaker's theory. He never quite comes out and
accuses God of taking away his girlfriend, but that seems like where he's headed. It's not exactly a
religious deal, he just seems like a paranoid guy who thinks the whole universe, even the parts he
can't see, is ganging up against him. When tragedy strikes, it's not uncommon for people to ask big
angry questions about heaven and earth.

Questions About The Supernatural

1. What's with all the angels and demons stuff? Is the speaker really blaming God for Annabel's
death?
2. Do you think this poem is meant to sound like a real story? Do the angels make it sound more
like a fairy tale than something that happened?
3. When you read all that spooky stuff in the last stanza, do you feel like Annabel is coming back
to life?
4. Could this be a kind of ghost story rather than a love story? Is it both?

Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Although the poem emphasizes the intensity of the love story, it places it in a dream-like, unreal
world, full of ghosts and demons and faraway kingdoms. Beauty and pure emotion matter more than
psychological reality in this poem.

The angels and demons offer a way for the speaker to soften the reality of death. By blaming spirits
for killing Annabel Lee, he can soften the blow of her loss.

MAN AND THE NATURAL WORLD

Even with all of these big questions on our plate, we can't forget about the importance of nature in
"Annabel Lee." It's not something the speaker makes a big deal of, but nature is everywhere in this
poem. The sea is the biggest example, but we also hear about the wind and the clouds and the stars
and the moon. Sometimes it's a quiet, steady presence in the background, but like everything else in
this poem, nature is always a little bit scary and threatening. You never quite imagine that sea being
sunny and pretty, do you?

Questions About Man and the Natural World

1. Why does Poe start and end this poem by talking about the sea? Is it just a sound, or a place,
or maybe a metaphor?
2. Do you get a picture in your head of what the kingdom by the sea looks like? Would you want
to live there?
3. Does the natural world seem good or evil in this poem?
4. Do you see the moon and the stars as beautiful and comforting or spooky and disturbing?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
The natural world plays an ambiguous role in this poem. It threatens the speaker, and kills his
beloved Annabel Lee, but it also comforts him by bringing her back in the moon and the stars.

The poem is built around the central image of the sea, and the feeling and the sound of the ocean
give it structure and meaning.

“ANNABEL LEE” SUMMARY

"Annabel Lee" is about a beautiful, painful memory. The speaker of the poem is remembering his long-lost
love, Annabel Lee. The speaker knew Annabel Lee many years ago, when she was a girl, and they both lived
"in a kingdom by the sea." Even though they were only children, these two were really, seriously in love. So in
love that even the angels in heaven noticed and were jealous. Maybe that was a bad thing, because our
speaker blames the angels for killing his girlfriend. Apparently a wind came down from the clouds, which made
Annabel Lee sick and then eventually killed her. When this happened, her relatives came and took her away
from the speaker, and shut her up in a tomb.

Our speaker wants us to know that his love for Annabel Lee wasn't just a teenage crush. A little thing like death
isn't going to separate him from Annabel Lee. Not even angels or devils could do that. He still sees her
everywhere, in his dreams and in the stars. In fact he still loves her so much (here's where it gets really weird)
that he goes and lies down with her in her tomb every night. Creepy.

Lines 1-6
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.

 This poem begins exactly like a fairy tale, telling us that the story we are about to hear
happened "many a year ago" in a "kingdom by the sea."
 These little details are important, because the sea and this old kingdom will be big images in
the poem.
 Even more important though, is Annabel Lee. She's the title character, and she's the reason
the poem exists.
 The speaker introduces her in the third line by calling her a "maiden," which lets us know that
she is young (and probably attractive), but which also keeps up the fairy-tale feel of the first
few lines.
 (You might think of her as being a little like a Disney princess, although as you'll see, this poem
is way too dark to be a Disney movie.)
  Finally, the speaker tells us the key fact of this poem, which is that he and Annabel Lee were in
love. So much in love that it was the only thing that mattered to either of them.

Lines 7-12
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.

 In this stanza the speaker lets us know that both he and Annabel Lee were young when this
happened. Not teenagers even, but kids: "I was a child and she was a child."
 This lets us know just how rare and special their love was, but it also tips us off that maybe
there's something not quite right here.
 He also repeats the line: "in the kingdom by the sea." This reminds us where we are, but also
creates the hypnotic, repeating effect that Poe loves.
 It's the same trick he uses in the next line, when he tells us that he and Annabel "loved with a
love that was more than love." He wants to let us know that their love was special and intense,
even though they were so young.
 So, the speaker uses the word love three times in the same line, which is a pretty gutsy move
for a poet.
 This love was apparently so amazingly strong that the "seraphs" (that's just a fancy word for
"angels") in heaven noticed them.
 In fact, these angels apparently "coveted" the two young lovers. That's a kind of tricky word,
but an important one for this poem. To covet means to want something really badly, usually
something that doesn't belong to you. This is a strange feeling for angels to have, since it's
definitely not a holy emotion. It's also our first hint that things might not turn out so well for
these two kids

Lines 13-16
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;

 Here's where things really take a turn for the worse. The speaker blames the terrible turn of
events on the angels who coveted him and Annabel.
 The jealousy of the angels was the reason why a wind came down from a cloud and killed his
girlfriend.
 Actually the speaker doesn't tell us right away that she dies, just that the wind was "chilling" to
her. That's a great word to use because it makes us think of the way you get sick in bad
weather (like how people say you "catch cold").
 At the same time, it gives us a first creepy hint of Annabel's cold, chilled dead body, which is a
major theme for this poem.
Lines 17-20
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.

 Then, still without saying that she was dead, the speaker tells us how her "kinsman" (that just
means a member of her family) came and took her away from him.
 Be sure to notice the word he uses to describe this kinsman. He calls him "highborn" which
means aristocratic, noble. If the speaker himself were "highborn" he probably wouldn't think to
mention this. Since he does, it gives us a little hint of a conflict here, maybe a little bit of
a Romeo and Juliet-style family feud.
 Maybe even before she died there were problems in his relationship with Annabel Lee. That's
just a small example of how Poe can work neat details into what seems like a simple story.
 Whatever is going on with the family, you can feel the speaker's pain at losing Annabel, and
you can tell that he feels she is being stolen from him.
 He tells us how the family "bore" (that just means "carried") her away from him.
 Death and Annabel's family are trying to tear these two lovers apart, to "shut her up" in a
"sepulchre." (That's another word for a big fancy building that you bury someone in, a tomb like
you might see in an old cemetery. It's also a perfect Poe word – you can always count on him
to go for a spooky, fancy word when he can.)

Lines 21-26
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.

 The speaker circles back a little bit, and directly blames the angels for killing his girlfriend. He
says that he and Annabel were happier on earth than the angels were in heaven, and that
made them jealous.
 He repeats what he said in line 13, insisting that "that was the reason" why the wind came
down and killed Annabel Lee.
 The speaker is extra careful to point out that this isn't just his wacky theory, but in fact that
everyone ("all men") who live in the kingdom know that this is a fact.
 We don't get any new facts in this stanza, and the story itself doesn't move forward. At the
same time, maybe we learn something about the speaker's mental state.
 The fact that he circles back and repeats the story of Annabel's death might show us see how
traumatic it was for him.
 He can't seem to stop thinking about that moment. Also, we think this theory about angels
killing Annabel because they are jealous sounds a little off the wall. Check out line 23, when he
says "Yes!--that was the reason."
 He sounds a little like a mad-scientist hatching a nutty idea. This will be important later, when
things get even more bizarre.
 Finally, notice how, even when Poe seems to be repeating himself, he's adding little changes
and bits of new information. In line 17, the speaker directly mentions Annabel's death for the
 first time, when he talks about the wind "killing" her. Again, even when the story is simple, it's a
good idea to watch every word Poe uses.

Lines 27-33
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:

 Even if death might seem to be the end of love, our speaker tells us that isn't the case for him
and Annabel. Even though they were young, that didn't stop them from loving completely, and
from knowing what they wanted.
 He goes on to say that neither the angels in heaven or the demons who live under the water
can stop their love. Nothing in heaven or hell can "dissever" (that means cut or separate) his
soul and Annabel's soul.
 The bottom line is that their love is eternal, and that nothing and no one can tear them apart.

Lines 34-37
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;

 Here's the proof that their love between the speaker and Annabel Lee isn't dead (at least in the
mind of the speaker).
 Notice that this stanza starts with a shift from the past tense into the present tense. He was
telling a story about something that happened long ago, but now he's letting us know what's
happening right now.
 The descriptions of his current life sound a bit creepy.
 Whenever the moon shines, he dreams of Annabel Lee. Whenever the stars come out, he
feels Annabel's eyes on him. This imagery is shared by many of Poe's poems and stories. His
main characters are often haunted by dreams and visions of women that they loved. Most of
the time, those women are dead but not gone.
 Just notice how weird and intense these images are. He doesn't say: "When I see the stars, I
think of her." He says that when the stars come out "I feel the bright eyes" of Annabel Lee. It's
almost like her eyes are there, and are burning into him. We are building up to something
strange towards the end of the poem.

Lines 38-41
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.
  Now we arrive at the reason why this could never be a sweet pop song or a Disney movie.
Because their love is unbroken, because they can't be separated by death, our speaker
spends his nights curled up next to Annabel's dead body.
 After he hits us with that super-disturbing image, he follows it up by telling us that she is his
darling, his life, and his bride. They were not married in life, but now they can be united in
death.
 The speaker seems increasingly obsessed and unbalanced as the poem goes on, and this is
what it all leads to. He is half-alive and half-dead, sleeping in a tomb by the ocean.
 Poe leaves us with one last haunting phrase, "the sounding sea," which makes us think of the
booming roar of the ocean, suddenly terrifying and cold. Sorry, there's definitely no happy
ending here.

Symbol Analysis
THE KINGDOM
This is the first major image we come across in the poem. Poe uses it a bunch of times, always as a
part of the phrase "a kingdom by the sea." In poetry we call that repeated phrase a refrain. You can
think of it like a chorus in a song. The verses tell a story, but the chorus comes back to the main
images again and again. Rhythm is a big part of poetry, and this refrain helps give this poem its
rhythm.

 Line 2: We see the phrase "a kingdom by the sea" over and over. Thinking about what this
phrase means will help to set the tone for the entire poem. We think it gives the whole thing a
kind of fairytale feel. When it comes to Poe's writing, we can't always be sure exactly where we
are. He uses this word four more times in the poem, but we never get any specifics about the
kingdom. A lot is left to our imagination. It seems like it's there to give us an intense image of a
time and place a long way from our own.
 Line 20: In this line the wording is the same as in line 2, but now the word kingdom comes right
after the story about the "highborn kinsman." So now the kingdom might call up images of
powerful, rich people who can just take things without asking. In that case, the kingdom
becomes a symbol of tyranny and cruelty. It's part of what makes the world such a bad place
to live for our poor speaker.

THE SEA
If we were going to have a contest for biggest, fattest symbol in this whole poem, we'd probably bet
on the sea. It comes up again and again in the poem, and it's the image that ties everything together.
We think of the ocean in this poem as being huge and lonely and cold. It's a nice reflection of the
emptiness and desolation that the speaker feels now that he has lost Annabel.

 Line 2: This is the first time we hear about the sea, and it's part of that "kingdom by the sea"
refrain. If the kingdom becomes a symbol of the power of people, then the sea is all about the
power of nature. It's kind of neat how Poe can tie humans and the natural world together in one
phrase like that.
 Line 31: Poe switches it up a little here, and mentions the sea for the first time without
mentioning the kingdom too. In this line the sea is filled with demons that want to tear him and
Annabel apart. You can see how this makes the image of the sea more intense. Before we just
 knew that it was by the kingdom, but now we can imagine it full of demons. We can almost see
them slithering along under the water. If we imagine hell or any place where demons live, we
usually imagine it being underground. In this poem, though, the evil things live under the sea.
This makes the idea of the sea a dark and scary thing in "Annabel Lee."
 Line 40: Annabel's tomb is apparently right beside the water too. See how the sea pulls
everything together in this poem? We can almost imagine the water lapping up against it. Like
we said, we're pretty convinced that this is a creepy, evil, deadly ocean we're dealing with
here. Also, notice the way Poe repeats the s sound and the beginning of "sepulchre" and
"sea." That alliteration gives the end of the poem a sort of hissing, evil sound, and is also
another way that Poe builds its rhythm.
 Line 41: It's important that "sea" is the last word in this poem. It rounds the whole thing out,
and leaves us with the familiar haunting image of the open lonely ocean. The phrase "sounding
sea" is cool too. There's that alliteration again, but there's also the fact that it's kind of tough
to figure out what it means. The word "sounding" gives us an open, echoey feeling that fits with
the mood at the end of the poem, but it's also a bit mysterious.

ANNABEL LEE

She's the one. She's the reason for the poem and she's clearly the only thing our speaker can think
about. She was young and beautiful and one half of the perfect couple. But even though Poe tells us
all that, we don't learn very much about Annabel. She doesn't talk, we don't hear what color her hair
was, or how tall she was or anything like that. If you have a picture in your head of Annabel Lee, it's
because you made it up. No detail is given here. Because of that, we think she's meant to be
a symbol of impossible, pure beauty and love. In fact, she seems a little too good to be true.

 Line 4: Here's our first introduction to Annabel. There are a couple of things worth noticing
about the way she pops up here. First, we learn that she's a "maiden," which fits really well
with all this business about the kingdom. Second, he says that she's a maiden "whom you may
know." That pulls us in and almost makes her seem famous and a little bit unreal. Again, she
seems more like a fantasy or a fairy-tale character than a real girl. Lastly, he says that she has
"no other thought" than loving him. That would be sort sad if it was true, but we suspect that
the speaker is fooling himself with this poetic exaggeration (or hyperbole).
 Line 26: At the beginning of the poem, the memories of Annabel are all sweetness and beauty.
Then, things begin to change, and the memory of her death creeps in. The image in this line is
particularly strong. When he talks about the wind "chilling" Annabel, we can almost feel the
coldness of her body as life slips away. Then the speaker rhymes that word with "killing," which
is the harshest mention of death in the entire poem.
 Line 33: The last three times he mentions Annabel, it's in this repeated line: "Of the beautiful
Annabel Lee." It's another refrain, in a poem that's full of them. In these sad last lines, her
name becomes almost like an echo, as the speaker builds up into his last cry of despair in line
39. Her name finally becomes like the words of a spell that he's saying over and over again to
try to bring her back.

THE HIGHBORN KINSMAN

We get the feeling that our speaker thinks this guy is a not a good guy. He shows up for a line, takes
Annabel away, and shuts her in a tomb. Then again, he's burying his dead relative, which is really
what you're supposed to do, so we think it's maybe a little unfair to blame him.

 Line 17: Even though we don't know exactly who he is (father? brother?), this kinsman is the
main symbol of the interference of older people in the speaker's life. The speaker seems
 convinced that other people don't understand him and Annabel, and he's pretty annoyed that
they would try to take her away, even though she is dead.

THE SEPULCHRE
There's only one spot where the speaker can bring himself to say straight out that Annabel is dead
(that's in line 26: "killing my Annabel Lee"). For the rest of the poem, this "sepulchre" is his way of
talking about death. 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. (It's also an extra cool-sounding word as far as we're
concerned. It has a great spooky, Halloween feel to it, doesn't it? It would also be a great name for a
metal band.)

 Line 19: If the kinsman represents the society that tries to keep these lovers apart, the
sepulchre is a symbol for the cold reality of death. Notice how Annabel gets "shut up" in this
tomb. It's a harsh phrase that makes it sound more like a prison than a final resting place.
 Line 40: At the end we are left with only the sea and the sepulchre. With their similar sounds,
the words seem almost married to each other, a pair like Annabel and the speaker. Notice that
the kingdom and the sea are a pair at the beginning but now the sepulchre has taken over, and
death has replaced life.

THE SERAPHS (ANGELS)

Interestingly enough, these are the bad guys in this poem. They take the blame for killing Annabel. It's
not a standard view of angels, but our speaker has a dark outlook on everything, so we're not too
surprised. Like with the sepulchre, we can see Poe playing around with a fancy "s" word here too, just
to spice things up, and then falling back on a much more common synonym. He could have just said
angels right away, but he's Edgar Allan Poe, and for him, atmosphere is everything.

 Line 11: There's that fancy phrase: "winged seraphs." That choice of words helps to lend a
lofty, mythological flavor to the poem, just like the kingdom and the maiden. Right from the
start, these seraphs are cruel and jealous. They covet the young lovers. Angels are supposed
to represent beauty and light and joy. Here they are dark and unjust and evil. It's a whacky,
upside-down world in this poem.
 Line 21: More mean angels here, jealous of Annabel and her boyfriend. Poe circles back to the
same few themes a number of times, which may be a way of giving us insight into the unstable
mind of the speaker. It also allows him to set up that hypnotic rhythm, like he does with
the alliteration of "half so happy in heaven."
 Line 30: Now he hits back at the angels a little. They thought they would win by killing Annabel,
but his bond with her is too strong. Notice the way they are paired with the demons under the
sea in the next line. This might look like an allusion to a particular religious view of the world.
However, since both the angels and the demons are ganging up against Annabel and the
speaker, they aren't really representatives of good and evil at all.

THE MOON AND STARS

If there's any part of the natural world in this poem that feels like it might be sort of positive and
friendly, this is probably it. While the wind chills and kills and the ocean is full of demons, at least the
moon and stars bring memories of Annabel Lee. At the same time, it's clear that memories of the
moon and stars aren't very happy ones for our speaker.
  Line 34: Here the moon, with the way it "beams" and "brings him dreams" feels almost like a
character. Poe's flirting with personification here, but the moon slips away quickly. Finally, it's
Annabel who matters, always and forever.
 Line 36: Here it almost seems like Annabel is there again. We can't quite tell if the stars are
meant to be a metaphor for her eyes or if our speaker might think that he sees her eyes in the
sky. The vision is a little bit beautiful and sad, and also a little bit scary.

ANTAGONIST: the seraphs, and maybe the high-born kinsmen just a bit. Non-literally, the
antagonist is, of course, death.

PROTAGONIST: The protagonist rails against the angels, blaming their jealousy as the reason why Annabel Lee
died.
Rhyme, Rhythm, Repetition: Poe uses three R’s–rhyme, rhythm, and repetition–in “Annabel Lee" to create a harmony of
sounds that underscore the exquisite harmony of the narrator’s relationship with his beloved.
Rhyme and Repetition
Throughout the poem, Poe repeats the soud of long "e." For example, in the first stanza, Line 2 ends with sea,
Line 4 with Lee, and Line 6 with me. Stanzas 2 and 3 repeat the sea, Lee, mepattern, although Stanza 3 adds a
second end-rhyming sea. Stanza 4 alters the pattern to me, sea, and Lee. Stanza 5 uses we, we, sea, and Lee;
the last stanza uses Lee, Lee, sea, and sea. A notable example of internal rhyme occurs in the last line of Stanza
4: “Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee."
Rhythm and Repetition
The lines of the poem alternate in length between a long line (usually with 9 to 11 syllables) and a short line
(usually with 6 to 8 syllables), as in the first stanza:
.......It was many and many a year ago, (11 syllables)
.......In a kingdom by the sea, (7 syllables)
.......That a maiden there lived whom you may know (10 syllables)
.......By the name of Annabel Lee (8 syllables)
.......And this maiden she lived with no other thought (11 syllables)
.......Than to love and be loved by me. (8 syllables)
Poe repeats this rhythmic pattern throughout the poem, perhaps to suggest the rise and fall of the tides. He also
repeats key phrases–such as in this kingdom by the sea and my Annabel Lee (or my beautiful Annabel Lee)–to
create haunting refrains. In addition, Poe sometimes repeats words or word patterns within a single line, as in
(1) many and many a year ago, (2) we loved with a love that was more than love, and (3) my darling–my darling.
Poe further enhances the rhythm of the poem with the repetition of consonant sounds (alliteration). Notice, for
example, the repetition of the “w" and “l" sounds in this line in Stanza 2: But we loved with a love that was more
than love." Poe sometimes couples repetition of consonant sounds with repetition of vowel sounds, as in many
and many, love and be loved, and those who were older than we.

Imagery–Darkness and Light: Implied and explicit images of darkness and light occur throughout the poem. Poe implies
that the kingdom by the sea is a bright, cheerful place where the sun shines on two young lovers, the narrator and
Annabel Lee. Ironically, in another realm of dazzling light–heaven–the highest order of angels, the Seraphim, grow dark
with envy of the young couple. Under cover of night, they send a cold wind that kills Annabel Lee: "The wind came out of
the cloud by night, / Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee." But the narrator says he remains in a realm of light, for his soul
and the soul of Annabel Lee are one. In the last stanza, Poe emphasizes this point with light imagery:
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.
Thus, his beloved becomes the moon and the stars shining down on him from the sepulchral night sky.