Edgar Allan Poe ‘Annabel Lee’: A study of Persona and Metaphor.

“Annabel Lee” unraveled such heart-breaking yet beautiful love story between a boy and a girl. Their love was powerful than those who were older and far wiser than them that even the angels were envious of their relationship. And this was the reason the wind chilled and killed the beautiful Annabel Lee. Due to the love so strong, everything reminded the persona of Annabel Lee including the moon and the stars as he lies by her tomb. Throughout the poem, the study will focus on persona and metaphor.

Persona has played a vital role in poetry in which the poet uses to deliver perspectives on life or world-views. Generally, persona is a “mask” that the poet uses to create the speaker of a poem. In this poem, Poe has made it clear that the character of the persona is a lover to a young maiden named Annabel Lee. In the first stanza from line 1 till 6, their love story was compared to fairy tale whereby both of the young lovers lived in a kingdom by the sea.

“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.”

However, the atmosphere of the poem changed when Annabel Lee died from a terrible disease. The tragedy resulted into a transition of the persona’s character from someone who was head over heels into a broken-hearted man by way of illustration from the sixth stanza, line 34 to 41.

“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...

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...their viewpoint on life or the world whereas metaphor is commonly used to show between two things that are contradict each other yet hold the same meaning in order to make the description more powerful. Edgar Allan Poe had successfully used two of these literary elements that made Annabel Lee an epitome of a good poem.

References

Horn, J.K. (2013). About the poetry archive: What is great poetry?

Retrieved October 25, 2013 from http://holyjoe.org/poetry/whatis.htm Wang, Bella. (August 08, 2009). GradeSaver ClassicNotes : Poe’s poetry study guide. GradeSaver, LLC.

Retrieved October 24, 2013 from http://www.gradesaver.com/poes-poetry/study-guide/section12/ Welch, A. M. (May, 1849). Edgar Allen Poe: Annabel Lee. The Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Columbia University.

Retrieved October 27, 2013 from

http://www.columbia.edu/acis/textarchive/rare/76.html