Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Annabel lee analysis paper
Annabel lee analysis
Critical assessment of Annabel Lee
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
An Analysis of "Annabel Lee"
Most people agree that Edgar Allan Poe wrote "Annabel Lee" about his departed wife, Virginia Clemm, who died of tuberculosis two years earlier. Some critics, however, contend that in the seventh line of the poem he states, "I was a child and she was a child," and he certainly was no child in 1836 at twenty-seven when he married his thirteen-year-old bride. Maybe the poem is about an earlier love, or perhaps it is purely fictional, but addressing Annabel Lee as his "life and [his] bride" in line thirty-eight and writing it two years after his beloved young wife's death, it is seems logical that it is indeed written about her and is simply embellished with a bit of poetic license.
In this poem, Poe writes primarily with a combination of iambic and anapestic feet, alternating between tetrameter and trimeter. The word "chilling," however, is permitted in both places it is used, lines fifteen and twenty-five, to retain its jarring trochaic meter (one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable). This is done most probably to utilize the provoking effect of that meter; the death of the speaker's loved one disturbs the rhythm of the poem and startles the reader. End rhyme in the poem alternates lines with a few variations and bears little significance; the repeated rhyming words are: "Lee," "sea," "me," and "we."
In "Annabel Lee" the speaker argues in lines eleven and twelve that the angels were jealous of the happy couple: "the winged seraphs of heaven coveted her and me." The envious angels, he insists, caused the wind to chill his bride and seize her life. However, he contends, their love, stronger than the love of the older or wiser couples, can never be conquered:
And neither the angles in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee. (lines 33-36)
The poem's diction immerses the reader into the speaker's fantasy-like realm of love shared with his bride. He begins the poem with the first two lines, "It was many and many a year ago, / In a kingdom by the sea," much like the "once upon a time, in a faraway land" of fairytales. The couple lived with no other thought than to love one another and "loved with a love that was more than love" (9).
Annnabel Lee is a poem of two lovers, in their own world, living a perfect life. This poem reflects Poe 's own pain, in which Annabel Lee dies, and her lover is heartbroken.
Poe utilises the device of trochaic octameter meaning that the trochee begins with a syllable that is stressed followed by a weak (unstressed) syllable (Study Institution, 2013). The overall aim of using trochaic octameter is to exaggerate the stressed words, creating hyperbole. Using the first two lines of the first stanza as an example, “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore…” it is evident that every pair of words is a trochee, a set of stressed and unstressed syllables (Dictionary.com, 2015). When hyperbole is apparent, it also allows the alliteration to be enhanced. In the fourteenth stanza, the first two lines exhibit these two devices working together, “Then methought the air grew denser, perfume from an unseen censer, Swung by Seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted
For centuries, the value of horses was known to farming and working communities, but it was not until very recently in history that people began to see the value of a horse for the disabled and mentally handicapped. Hippotherapy, as defined by Barbara Smith, is “the use of the horse as a medical treatment strategy and not as a method to teach riding.” Dozens of studies show the effectiveness or non-effectiveness of this specialized therapy for certain disorders. The horse provides a stepping stone to well-being for people with debilitating illnesses that otherwise could not achieve optimal wellness through conventional therapies.
Throughout history, women have had to fight for equality with men in the world. Today sexism continues to be a problem and women are still not completely treated the same way men are. Sexism is defined as discrimination or devaluation based on a person's sex (“Sexism-Dictionary.com”). Recently, the music industry shows sexism towards female artists. This not only allows male artists to have a more likely chance of being respected, but also affects the views audiences have on female artists. Sexism is shown in the music industry towards female artists.
Poe was likely influenced by the death of his wife, his gloomy childhood, and Tuberculosis. To begin, Poe may have been influenced by his wife’s death to write “Annabel Lee.” First, Poe loved his wife Virginia very much and they lived a good life. Similarly, the narrator in “Annabel Lee” was in love with Annabel and they were very happy together. In addition, Poe’s wife Virginia died of Tuberculosis at a young age. Likewise, Annabel died at a very young age by “the wind chilling her.” Therefore, the death of Virginia, Poe’s wife, influenced him to write “Annabel Lee.”
Stanza five paints a picture that their love was stronger than anybody’s ever was on land or sea, and that nobody can take the writer away from his love: this is supported by the speaker making the statement “ but our love was stronger by far than the love of those who were older than we” (Poe 609), 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” (Poe 610). The last stanza is very grim when it states “I lie down by the side of my darling… In the sepulchre there by the sea” (Poe 610). It paints a gross picture that the speaker loved Annabel Lee so much that he was willing to lay next to the body of her dead corpse, not letting death take her away from him. The imagery in the last two stanzas support the message of the
Poe uses apostrophe, alliteration, personification, repetition, and symbolism. Apostrophe is completely obvious in this poem. The man references Lenore multiple times, who has passed away and is no longer there for him. EXAMPLE. Alliteration is also present when he says "grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt" and "And the silken, sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain..."
The diction of “Annabel Lee” helps create the impression of a fairy tale-like love story. With words such as “maiden” (line 3), “kingdom” (line 8), “beautiful” (line 16), “high-born kinsmen” (line 17), Poe paints a picture of a whimsical, fantastic love story when, in reality, Annabel Lee dies in her girlhood. This is wherein lies the irony: the glamorization of the persona’s love of Annabel Lee
Starting in the first stanza we see that Annabel Lee is referred to specifically as a maiden. Maidens are unmarried women, and the word is often associated with virginity. From this we can conclude that Poe wants to emphasize Annabel Lee’s purity. The word choice in “maiden” lets the reader know early on that this poem is not about lust, but rather love and the genuine connection that comes with it. In the third stanza, as previously discussed, Poe goes out of his way to emphasize that both the narrator and Annabel Lee were children. However, the word choice of “child” is interesting because it is ambiguous whether it is literal or not. By choosing to portray the two lovers as children, Poe once again enforces the themes of purity, innocence, and virginity that children and maidens have in common. Poe wants the reader to understand that there is no sin between the two lovers, only an undying love. Knowing this it is now easy to see why Poe asserts that the angels would be jealous of their love, as the angels would believe only such a pure love should be reserved for God. Continuing to analyze the theme of holiness and purity, even more interesting details can be found in the word choice of sepulchre. A sepulchre is simply a tomb, however the word sepulchre itself is more often associated with religious
Nifedipine: Fast onset of action, but has a short half-life. Should only be used in uncomplicated situations without possible end-organ risk due to its ability to drop the blood pressure very rapidly.
. Look To The Stars The World of Celeberty Giving. Look To The Stars, n.d. Web. 1 Apr 2014.
The explication was an opinion thought and also details about this poem. I found out that poems have a lot of meanings once you annotate it and break it down. “Annabel Lee” was an interesting poem that had brought out my attention. Although poems are not one of my biggest things to read or do, I enjoyed “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe.
Poems have really intricate meanings that can be portrayed in many different ways. They can be used to express feelings and emotions towards someone or something. Poems can be about love, hate, nature, or anything in particular. The poem “Annabel Lee,” by Edgar Allan Poe is a romantic poem, written during the Romanticism period. The poem is about the narrator, a young man, who is dealing with the tragic loss of his fair maiden, whom he fell in love with at a young age. The love between the couple is described as very childlike and innocent. Their love for each other is extremely passionate, for that reason, the angels became jealous and killed Annabel Lee. Although his wife passed away, the narrator does not want to give up on their love and
Q. . Explain how science and technology can help to reduce pollution when hydrogen cars are used (benefits).