Discussion Questions for Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee.”
1. Who is Annabel Lee in real life? Why do you suppose that he
calls her Annabel Lee rather than her real name?
 Virginia Clemm
 Annabel Lee adds to the rhyme scheme and melodic tone of the poem
2. In the poem, it states that Annabel Lee thinks mostly of what?
In what stanza did you find this answer?
 “to love and be loved by me” –so in other words, their love for one
another
 Stanza 1
3. Who was jealous of the narrator and Annabel Lee? Why were
they jealous?
 The angels, or seraphs, were jealous.
 They were jealous because nobody else is supposed to be as happy or
have as much love as them
 The angels represent the evil villain in a fairy tale separating the true
loves from one another…(i.e. snow white and the evil queen)
4. What is a sepulcher? What is it used for in the poem? Where is
Annabel Lee’s sepulcher located in the poem?
 A sepulcher is an above ground tomb.
 It is used for Annabel Lee’s gravesite in the poem
 She is referred to as being “shut up in a sepulcher” so it sounds a lot like
a “maiden” in a fairy tale being locked up in a tower or room until her
Prince Charming is able to come and save her…
5. The “wind” is used as a metaphor in this poem. What is a
metaphor? What does the wind represent?
 A metaphor compares two unlike things without using “like” or “as” to do
so…it is not meant to be taken literally
 The wind is a metaphor or representation of Virginia developing TB. The
wind takes Annabel Lee’s life, just like TB took Virginia’s life. It is not literal
because wind is very unlikely to cause somebody’s death.
6. In the last stanza, the narrator mentions the stars. What does
he say the stars remind him of?
 “the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes…”
 They remind him of the eyes of his “darling and bride,” Annabel Lee
 The stars represent her memory and her presence still being with the
narrator even though her death does not allow her to physically be
present
7. According to the poem, where does the narrator sleep at night?
 By Annabel Lee’s “sepulcher there by the sea,”
 Just like in Poe and Virginia’s real life when he would cry himself to sleep at
night next to her grave.
8. According to the poem, why couldn’t anyone “ever dissever” his
soul from the soul of Annabel Lee?
Additional Things to Remember:
9.There are a lot of real life connections between the poem and Poe
and Virginia’s life together:
 Death
 eternal love
 “tomb by the sea”
10.The poem is a metaphor for Poe’s life with Virginia; he is
comparing their love to that of a fairy tale:
 They were true loves for one another, just like a maiden and her prince
 Their love was challenged by jealousy, just like many fairy tales story line:
i.e.—the step mom in Cinderella; the evil queen in snow white; the evil
sorcerer in Aladdin…
 They triumphed in the end because their love for one another could not be
stopped, even by death. Feelings and memories cannot be taken away…