View source for Annabel Lee

{{short description|Poem by Edgar Allan Poe}}
{{For|articles with the same or similar name|Anabelle Lee (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox poem
| name          = Annabel Lee
| title_orig    =
| translator    =
| first         =
| image         = Sartain's annabel 1850.jpg
| caption       = ''Sartain's Union Magazine of Literature and Art'', Philadelphia, January 1850
| author        = [[Edgar Allan Poe]]
| illustrator   = 
| cover_artist  = 
| country       = [[United States]]
| language      = [[English language|English]]
| series        = 
| subject       = 
| genre         = 
| publisher     = ''Sartain's Union Magazine'', John Sartain
| publication_date      = {{start date|1849}}<!-- Bot-converted date -->
| english_pub_date =
| media_type    = 
| pages         = 
| isbn          = 
| oclc          =
| preceded_by   =
| followed_by   =
| wikisource  = Annabel Lee
}}
"'''Annabel Lee'''" is the last complete poem<ref>[http://www.eapoe.org/papers/misc1827/nyt49102.htm www.eapoe.org]</ref> composed by American author [[Edgar Allan Poe]]. Like many of Poe's poems, it explores the theme of the death of a beautiful woman.<ref name=Meyers243>Meyers, Jeffrey. ''Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy''. New York: Cooper Square Press, 1992. p. 243. {{ISBN|0-8154-1038-7}}</ref> The narrator, who fell in love with Annabel Lee when they were young, has a love for her so strong that even angels are envious. He retains his love for her after her death. There has been debate over who, if anyone, was the inspiration for "Annabel Lee". Though many women have been suggested, Poe's wife [[Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe]] is one of the more credible candidates. Written in 1849, it was not published until shortly after Poe's death that same year.

==Synopsis==
[[File:Annabel Lee fair copy Poe 1849.jpg|thumb|upright=1.05|Poe's manuscript for "Annabel Lee", Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library]]
The poem's narrator describes his love for Annabel Lee, which began many years ago in a "kingdom by the sea". Though they were young, their love for each other burned with such intensity that even angels were envious. For this reason, the narrator believes the [[seraph]]im caused her death. Even so, their love is strong enough that it extends beyond the grave and the narrator believes their two souls are still entwined. Every night, the narrator dreams of Annabel Lee and sees the brightness of her eyes in the stars.  Every night, the narrator lies down by her side in her tomb by the sea.
==Analysis==
Like many other Poe poems including "[[The Raven]]", "[[Ulalume]]", and "[[Poems by Edgar Allan Poe#To One in Paradise (1833)|To One in Paradise]]", "Annabel Lee" follows the theme of the death of a beautiful woman,<ref name=Meyers243/> which Poe called "the most poetical topic in the world".<ref>Poe, Edgar A. "[[The Philosophy of Composition]]" (1846).</ref> Like women in many other works by Poe, she marries young and is struck with illness.<ref>Weekes, Karen. "Poe's feminine ideal", collected in ''The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe'', edited by Kevin J. Hayes. Cambridge University Press, 2002. p. 152. {{ISBN|0-521-79727-6}}</ref> The poem focuses on an ideal love which is unusually strong. In fact, the narrator's actions show that he not only loves Annabel Lee, but he worships her, something he can only do after her death.<ref>Hoffman, Daniel. ''Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe''. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1972. p. 68. {{ISBN|0-8071-2321-8}}</ref> The narrator admits that he and Annabel Lee were children when they fell in love, but his explanation that angels murdered her is in itself childish, suggesting he has failed to mature since then.<ref name=Empric26>Empric, Julienne H. "[http://www.eapoe.org/pstudies/ps1970/p1973109.htm A Note on 'Annabel Lee']", collected in  ''Poe Studies''. Volume VI, Number 1 (June 1973). p. 26.</ref> His repetition of this assertion suggests he is trying to rationalize his own excessive feelings of loss.<ref name=Empric26/>

Unlike "The Raven", in which the narrator believes he will "nevermore" be reunited with his love, "Annabel Lee" says the two will be together again, as not even demons "can ever dissever" their souls.

===Poetic structure===
"Annabel Lee" consists of six [[stanza]]s, three with six lines, one with seven, and two with eight, with the [[rhyme]] pattern differing slightly in each one.<ref name=Meyers243/> Though it is not technically a [[ballad]], Poe referred to it as one.<ref>Quinn, Arthur Hobson. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography''. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998: 606. {{ISBN|0-8018-5730-9}}</ref> Like a ballad, the poem uses repetition of words and phrases purposely to create its mournful effect.<ref name=Meyers243/> The name Annabel Lee emphasizes the letter "[[L]]", a frequent device in Poe's female characters such as "[[Eulalie]]", "[[Lenore (poem)|Lenore]]", and "[[Ulalume]]".<ref>Kopley, Richard and Kevin J. Hayes. "Two verse masterworks: 'The Raven' and 'Ulalume'", as collected in ''The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe'', edited by Kevin J. Hayes. Cambridge University Press, 2002: 200. {{ISBN|0-521-79727-6}}</ref>

The Edgar Allan Poe Society of [[Baltimore, Maryland]] has identified 11 versions of "Annabel Lee" that were published between 1849 and 1850.<ref>[http://www.eapoe.org/WorkS/info/pp097.htm "Annabel Lee" – List of texts and variant texts] at the Edgar Allan Poe Society online</ref>  The biggest variation is in the final line:
:Original manuscript: "In her tomb by the side of the sea"
:Alternative version: "In her tomb by the sounding sea"

==Inspiration==
[[File:VirginiaPoe.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.5|Poe's wife Virginia is often assumed to be the inspiration for "Annabel Lee".]]
It is unclear on whom the [[eponym]]ous character Annabel Lee is based.<ref name=Silverman401>Silverman, Kenneth. ''Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance''. New York: Harper Perennial, 1991. p. 401. {{ISBN|0-06-092331-8}}</ref> Biographers and critics usually suggest Poe's frequent use of the "death of a beautiful woman" theme stems from the repeated loss of women throughout his own life, including his mother [[Eliza Poe]] and his foster mother Frances Allan.<ref>Weekes, Karen. "Poe's feminine ideal", collected in ''The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe'', edited by Kevin J. Hayes. Cambridge University Press, 2002. p. 149. {{ISBN|0-521-79727-6}}</ref> Biographers often interpret that "Annabel Lee" was written for Poe's wife [[Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe|Virginia]], who had died two years prior, as was suggested by poet [[Frances Sargent Osgood]], though Osgood is herself a candidate for the poem's inspiration.<ref name=Silverman401/> A strong case can be made for Poe's wife Virginia: She was the one he loved as a child, the only one who had been his bride, and the only one who had died.<ref name=Meyers244>Meyers, Jeffrey. Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy. New York: Cooper Square Press, 1992. p. 244. {{ISBN|0-8154-1038-7}}</ref> Autobiographical readings of the poem have also been used to support the theory that Virginia and Poe never consummated their marriage, as "Annabel Lee" was a "[[virginity|maiden]]".<ref>Hoffman, Daniel. ''Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe''. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1972. p. 27. {{ISBN|0-8071-2321-8}}</ref> Critics, including [[Thomas Ollive Mabbott|T. O. Mabbott]], believed that Annabel Lee was merely the product of Poe's gloomy imagination and that Annabel Lee was no real person in particular. A childhood sweetheart of Poe's named [[Sarah Elmira Royster]] believed the poem was written with her in mind<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090221144736/http://www.pambytes.com/poe/poems/annabel.html www.pambytes.com]</ref> and that Poe himself said so.<ref>Silverman, Kenneth. ''Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance''. New York: Harper Perennial, 1991. p. 426. {{ISBN|0-06-092331-8}}</ref> [[Sarah Helen Whitman]] and [[Estelle Anna Lewis|Sarah Anna Lewis]] also claimed to have inspired the poem.<ref name=Sova12>Sova, Dawn B. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z''. Checkmark Books, 2001. p. 12. {{ISBN|0-8160-4161-X}}</ref>

==Publication history and reception==
"Annabel Lee" was probably composed in May 1849.<ref name=Sova12/> Poe took steps to ensure that the poem would be seen in print. He gave a copy to [[Rufus Wilmot Griswold]], his literary executor and personal rival, gave another copy to John Thompson to repay a $5 debt, and sold a copy to ''[[John Sartain|Sartain's]] Union Magazine'' for publication.<ref name=Meyers244/> Though ''Sartain's'' was the first authorized printing in January 1850, Griswold was the first to publish it on October 9, 1849, two days after [[Death of Edgar Allan Poe|Poe's death]] as part of his obituary of Poe in the [[Horace Greeley]] newspaper the ''[[New-York Tribune|New-York Daily Tribune]]''.<ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030213/1849-10-09/ed-1/seq-2/ ''The New-York Daily Tribune'', Tuesday, October 9, 1849, "Death of Edgar A. Poe", page 2.]</ref> Thompson had it published in the ''[[Southern Literary Messenger]]'' in November 1849.<ref name=Meyers244/>

"Annabel Lee" was an inspiration for [[Vladimir Nabokov]], especially for his novel ''[[Lolita]]'' (1955), in which the narrator, as a child, falls in love with the terminally ill Annabel Leigh "in a princedom by the sea". Originally, Nabokov titled the novel ''The Kingdom by the Sea''.<ref>Meyers, Jeffrey. ''Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy''. New York: Cooper Square Press, 1992. p. 302. {{ISBN|0-8154-1038-7}}</ref> Nabokov later used this as the title of the Lolita "doppelganger novel" in ''[[Look at the Harlequins!]]''.

==Adaptations==
*The English composer [[Henry David Leslie]] (1822–96) set this as a ballad for voice and piano, respelling as "Annabelle Lee".
* The 1914 silent film ''[[The Avenging Conscience]]'' is based on "Annabel Lee" and Poe's short story "[[The Tell-Tale Heart]]".
* 1968 Short Film "Annabel Lee" featuring [[Paul Le Mat]] (an unknown at the time) and Margo Duke - directed by Ronald R. Morante and Producer Paul Wolff - won best International Short Subject Competition for Best Cinematography. All rights were sold to Warner Bros. ca. 1969.
* An adapted version of the poem appears on [[Sarah Jarosz]]'s 2011 album, ''Follow Me Down''.
* [[Stevie Nicks]] recorded a version of this poem on her 2011 album ''[[In Your Dreams (Stevie Nicks album)|In Your Dreams]]''.
* [[Joan Baez]] recorded a version of this poem on her 1967 album ''[[Joan (album)|Joan]]'', with music by Don Dilworth.
* The band [[Alesana]] based three albums (''[[The Emptiness (album)|The Emptiness]]'', ''[[A Place Where the Sun Is Silent]]'' and ''[[Confessions (Alesana album)|Confessions]]'') on the poem and called it ''The Annabel Trilogy''.
* The poem appears on [[Marissa Nadler]]'s album, ''[[Ballads of Living and Dying]]''.
* An adaptation appears in the song "Three" by the band [[La Dispute (band)|La Dispute]] on their first spoken word EP, ''[[Here, Hear.]]'' and in the song "Fall Down, Never Get Back Up Again" on their album ''[[Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair]].''
* The poem was set to music by the English composer [[Josef Holbrooke|Joseph Charles Holbrooke (5 July 1878 – 5 August 1958)]] as a Ballad for voice and orchestra Op. 41b (1905)
* An adapted version of the poem by Spanish group [[Radio Futura]] on their album ''La canción de Juan Perro'', 1987 (music by Luis Auserón, lyric adapted by Santiago Auserón).
*The poem was adapted as the song "Annabel Lee" on the [[Tiger Army]] album ''[[Tiger Army II: Power of Moonlite]]''
* The poem was translated to Hebrew by [[Ze'ev Jabotinsky]] and performed by various Israeli artists, among them [[Yossi Banai]], [[Yoni Bloch]] and [[Shlomo Artzi]] (who performed the song both in Hebrew and in the original).
* The poem was also the base for ''[[Lady Midnight]]'' by [[Cassandra Clare]] as the first book in the [[Dark Artifices]] series. Each chapter title is taken directly from the poem.
* The web series "Kissing in the Rain" features a shortened version of the poem with Sean Persaud as Edgar Allan Poe and [[Mary Kate Wiles]] as Annabel Lee. Both actors reprised their roles for the web series "Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party," though they are separate universes and their stories are not connected. 
* The band [[Black Rebel Motorcycle Club]] made a song out of the poem. The piano led piece is an iTunes pre-order bonus track on  their sixth studio album, ''[[Beat the Devil's Tattoo]]''. The album title is itself a phrase taken from another Edgar Allan Poe short story, "[[The Devil in the Belfry]]".
* [[Alexander Veljanov]] recorded an adaptation called Lied für Annabel Lee in German for the Edgar Allan Poe Projekt - Visionen (Double Album) 2006.
* The plot for the video game ''[[The Dark Eye (video game)|The Dark Eye]]'' is a loose adaptation of the poem.
*A song by the American indie rock band [[Bright Eyes (band)|Bright Eyes]] "Jetsabel removes the undesirables" shares some of the same themes and contains direct references. The last lines of the song are almost identical to the beginning of the last stanza of the poem.
* "Another New World", a song based on this poem, appears on [[Josh Ritter]]'s 2010 album, ''[[So Runs the World Away]]''. The song was covered by the [[Punch Brothers]] for their 2012 EP, Ahoy! In this version, Annabel Lee is the singer's beloved sailing ship, which is destroyed during a failed [[polar expedition]].
* The progressive rock band Far from Your Sun set the poem to music on their 2015 album ''In the Beginning... Was the Emotion''.
* In the 2015 book by Jenny Han, ''[[P.S. I Still Love You]]'', and its 2020 movie adaptation, the poem is used as a Valentine's Day gift, when the person giving the poem as a gift claims they wrote it. The name Annabel Lee is changed to Lara Jean.

==See also==
*[[Poems by Edgar Allan Poe]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{wikisource}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/edgar-allan-poe/poetry|Display Name=An omnibus collection of Poe's poetry|noitalics=true}}
*[http://www.eapoe.org/works/info/pp097.htm Publication history] at the [http://www.eapoe.org Edgar Allan Poe Society]
*{{cite web |title=New-York daily tribune, October 09, 1849, Page 2 |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030213/1849-10-09/ed-1/seq-2/ |website=Chronicling America - Library of Congress |access-date=27 September 2019 |ref=Tribune1049}}
*[http://www.reelyredd.com/0706annabel_lee.htm Audio – hear the poem read]
*"[http://www.victorianweb.org/mt/parlorsongs/1.html Annabelle Lee]" {{sic}}, a 19th-century musical version by Henry Leslie, sung by Derek B. Scott
*[http://julianpeterscomics.com/annabel-lee/ An adaptation of the poem into comics]
* {{librivox book | title=Annabel Lee | author=Edgar Allan Poe}}

{{Edgar Allan Poe}}
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[[Category:1849 poems]]
[[Category:Poetry by Edgar Allan Poe]]
[[Category:Poems published posthumously]]
[[Category:Works originally published in American newspapers]]
[[Category:Poems adapted into films]]