Analysis of Annabel Lee
Edgar Allan Poe 1809 (Boston) – 1849 (Baltimore)
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 winged 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 kinsman 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 the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
Scheme | ababxb xBcbdb aBxbxbxB dbaBxb cbbcbxB xBxBeebb |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11100100101 0010101 1010111111 1011101 01101111101 11101111 110101101 0110101 11110111111 101101 1011011110 100001 0110101101 0110101 011110110 1100101 110111 0100111 1101001 0110101 01011110010 11001 1110101111 0110101 1011110111 100101101 1101111011101 11101011 11011011 01001001001 101011001 110111101 10100101 101101011011 10100101 001101111011 10100101 011011111101 111011011011 0011101 00110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,768 |
Words | 333 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 8, 6, 7, 8 |
Lines Amount | 41 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 188 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 50 |
About this poem
"Annabel Lee" is a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe, an American writer and poet. Poe was known for his macabre and Gothic literature, and "Annabel Lee" is one of his most famous works. It was first published in 1849, shortly after Poe's death. The poem tells the story of a young man who mourns the death of his beloved Annabel Lee and expresses his undying love for her.
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"Annabel Lee" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/8431/annabel-lee>.
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