Annabel Lee

   Last week in class we talked about the poem "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allen Poe. I happen to love this poem and never thought that it would be a topic of discussion in mythology class. The poem goes as follows:
      

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 wingèd 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 kinsmen 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 her sepulchre there by the sea—

   In her tomb by the sounding sea.

          The poem is just so beautiful it takes my breath away to read it. The way it flows when you read it is amazing. Aside from that, there is a deep meaning behind it. It is about a man mourning the death of his wife, who died far too young. I'm sure many people can relate to the death of someone young. Death in itself is tragic, but the thought of a life cut too short may be even more so. If you've lived a full life and died of old age, death seems logical. However, a life cut short is left with so may open ended questions like "Why?" and "What if?".

         A couple of years ago in my photography class we had to choose a poem and do a series of photos interpreting it. Coincidentally, I chose Annabel Lee and my photos portrayed a feeling of solitude and loneliness and overall sorrow.

       I must admit when I first heard this poem at a young age, I didn't understand the meaning behind it, but I still knew it was beautiful. Now that I know the meaning behind it, it is still beautiful. I guess tragedy can have some kind of beauty behind it too.