Annabel Lee
Meet Edgar Allan Poe
1809 –1849
Difficult Early Life…
• Orphaned at young
age
• Mother died/father left
• Taken in by John and
Frances Allan but
never formally
adopted
Virginia Clemm
• Edgar’s cousin he
was very much in love
with
• Thirteen when
married to Edgar (he
was 27)
• Died of tuberculosis
• Wrote famous poems,
“Annabel Lee” and
“The Raven” about
her
His bizarre death…
• Date - October 7, 1849
• Forty years old
• Wearing someone else’s
clothes
• Found face down in
streets of Baltimore
• No records or death
certificate
• Probably intoxicated
(drunk)
Topics he wrote about…
•
•
•
•
•
Murder
Madmen
Revenge
Being buried alive
Haunted houses
Famous Poems…
•
•
•
•
•
•
“The Bells”
“Annabel Lee”
“To Helen”
“The Raven”
“Lenore”
“The Haunted
Palace”
Famous Short Stories…
• “The Tell Tale Heart”
• “The Black Cat”
• “The Pit and the
Pendulum”
• “The Fall of the
House of Usher”
• “The Premature
Burial”
Other Facts…
• Was in the army
• Invented detective fiction
• Lived in Baltimore,
Philadelphia, and New York
• Poor most of his life
• Went to college for one
semester at the University of
Virginia
• Had a gambling and alcohol
problem
• Used a fake name “Henri Le
Rennet”
• Wrote with a cat on his
shoulder
F.Y.I.
The N.F.L. team, the
Baltimore Ravens,
are named after
Edgar Allan Poe
Today you will be reading
“Annabel Lee”
Facts:
“Annabel Lee” was
the last poem Poe
wrote.
It’s about Virginia,
his wife, who died.
“Annabel Lee” is a
poem about eternal
love.
Let’s read…
“Annabel Lee”
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.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and meYes!- 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.
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 loveI and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than weOf many far wiser than weAnd 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.
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.
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.
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions
What are two
prevailing themes in
the poem “Annabel
Lee”? Cite textual
evidence to support
your answer.
Answer
Love:
 Speaker and Annabel
Lee fell in love when
they were young.
 Their love is challenged
by Annabel Lee's death,
but the speaker does not
give up on her.
 He continues to dream
about her, believes that
their souls are
intertwined, and sleeps
in her tomb at night.
Answer
Envy:
 The angels are so
envious of the love
between the speaker
and Annabel Lee that
they are spurred to
murder Annabel Lee.
 The speaker describes
the degree of the angels'
envy by stating that they
are not even 'half as
happy' as he and
Annabel Lee are.
Discussion Questions
What is the setting?
Cite textual evidence
to support your
answer.
Answer
 The setting is a
fictional kingdom along
the ocean shore.
 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.
Discussion Questions
Who are the
characters in the
poem “Annabel
Lee?” Cite textual
evidence to support
your answer.
Answer
The speaker is a
determined man of
deep sensibility who
is deeply in love with
the young Annabel
Lee.
Answer
Annabel Lee is a
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.
Answer
The seraphs are
members of the
highest order of
angels. The seraphs
are so envious of the
love between the
narrator and Annabel
Lee that they cause
Annabel’s death.
Discussion Questions
How does Poe use
word choice to
create a fairy tale
atmosphere? Cite
textual evidence to
support your answer.
Answer
Poe chose the
words of the poem
to evoke a
dreamland or
fairytale
atmosphere.
It was many and
many a year ago, for
example, echoes the
traditional fairytale
opening of once
upon a time.
Answer
 The words kingdom,
maiden, and child then
lead the reader into
the never-never land.
 Kingdom suggesting
chivalry and romance,
maiden suggesting
innocence, and child
suggesting the
wonderment of youth.
Discussion Questions
How does Poe use
imagery if dark and
light? Cite textual
evidence to support
your answer.
Answer
 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
 Under cover of night, the
envious angels send a
cold wind that kills
Annabel Lee: "The wind
came out of the cloud by
night, / Chilling and
killing my Annabel Lee."
Answer
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.”
Answer
Thus, his beloved
becomes the moon
and the stars shining
down on him from
the sepulchral night
sky.
Deep Thinking Question/Essay
Do you think this
poem is about true
love or about scary
obsession? Can
someone feel both
feelings at the same
time, or does one
cancel out the other?
Deep Thinking Question/Essay
Do you get a picture
in your mind of the
speaker? If so,
where does it come
from? How do you
think Poe builds his
character over the
course of the poem?
Deep Thinking Question/Essay
Is real love possible
at a young age? Do
you need to be fully
grown in order to
really fall in love?
Deep Thinking Question/Essay
Do you think the end
of this poem is
beautiful? Do you
think its weird
subject matter
makes it more or
less appealing?
©Kimberly Dana
Kimberly Dana is an award-winning teacher and
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