A Comparison Of The Death Of Women In Annabel Lee By Edgar Allan Poe

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“The death, then, of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world” (Poe, “Philosophy”). Edgar Allan Poe is a well known author for his gothic styled writing. His stories focus on death and grief as well as guilt. In the story “Ligeia” (1838), and the poem “Annabel Lee” (1849), Poe expresses his love and loss of the women he cared about most. Poe saw women as beautiful figures because of the women in his life, and he depicts this through his short stories and poems.
Poe had three prominent women in his life his mother, his aunt, and his wife. His mother’s name was Elizabeth Arnold; she was a traveling actress and was very devoted to her job. She was noted for her beauty, her singing voice and her theatrical talent …show more content…

This poem is about the narrator’s wife, who ends up dying young. In the poem Poe starts by saying “And this maiden she lived with no other thought than to love and be loved by me” (Poe, 691). Later in the poem the narrator says “That the wind came out of the cloud by night, Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee” (Poe, 691). In this poem Poe expresses how women are beautiful figures by making the death of Annabel Lee seem so alluring. He takes such amazing experiences as a comparison to his 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” (Poe, 692). Although Annabel Lee dies in the poem, it doesn’t seem as sorrowful because of the beautiful imagery expressed in this poem. Some may say that this poem specifically relates to his wife Virginia because of the saying “I was a child and she was a child” (Poe, 691), as we know they married so young. He wanted to express his wife’s beauty through this poem, and by the narrator using the phrase “My beautiful Annabel Lee” four times in the poem it expresses how he looked at her, with such …show more content…

He loved the women in his life like his mother, his wife, and his aunt. Although he is most known for his gothic styled writing, Poe was able to display the beauty of women through death and grief. The women in his stories can justifiably mirror the women in his life. Most of the women in his stories and poems died as young women, and most fell deathly ill. We know that his mother and his wife both died before the age of 25 from tuberculosis, so the women in his stories and poems can be related to his mother and wife. Poe may have been known for his dark and mysterious writing, but one thing is for sure, through his dark writings he makes the women seem as though they are the only good thing. He makes sure to focus on their physical beauty as well as their spiritual beauty as well. As Poe writes, he makes it seem as though nothing good will ever last; that these characters have these amazingly perfect women, but it will never last long. Like the story “Ligeia” Poe starts with having the focus on this beautiful women, but then her death sets the dark and mysterious tone. In “Annabel Lee” the focus is on her beauty and how beauty can still come out of death with the nature scenes reminding the narrator of his “beautiful Annabel Lee”. The death of a beautiful women is a very poetical topic, and I think Edgar Allan Poe did a great job in expressing

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