Symbolism In Annabel Lee

The poem hints to various women in the narrator’s life and most significantly a young beautiful lady who dies too suddenly in her youth. The poem celebrates Annabel Lee and his’s childhood sentiments which are somehow consistent with the ethics of the passionate era. During the 18th and 19th centuries most idealists perceived maturity as an exploitation of purer predispositions of childhood and chose nature over the society as it was considered to be in a desirable inherent state. For that reason, Poe considers the love between Annabel and narrator to be complete and perpetual compared to that of mature people. Annabel shows no signs of complexity in her emotions that may end up darkening or complicating her relationship. In this case, she

The kingdom is the main symbol that is recognized from the beginning of the poem. It has been used as a repetitive phrase helping in figuring out the entire tone of the poem. The kingdom brings about a profound imagination of a place and time which is a long way from the current day. In line 20, the word kingdom recalls images of rich and powerful human beings who take things at their own will without permission. As such the word becomes a representation of autocracy and cruelty. It is part and parcel of what brands the world as an undesirable place to exist for the narrator. Sea has also been used over and over again leading to the connection of everything. The narrator gives an impression of the sea as a big, cold and lonely place. It is an ideal reflection of the emptiness that the speaker bears the loss of Annabel. In line 2, the sea has been mentioned, “Kingdom by the sea”. As such, the kingdom being the authority of mankind, the sea is related to the supremacy of nature. Poe shows how nature and man are unified. In line 31 sea has been used to symbolize how evil exists down the sea and its intention is to destroy the narrator’s relationship with Annabel. The angels or seraphs being perceived as good are actually bad in Poe’s poem. All blame is directed to the spirits for killing Annabel. In line 11 the phrase “winged seraphs” offers a haughty and mythical essence to the poem similar to the maiden and the kingdom. From the beginning, the seraphs are very jealous and cruel as they cover the Annabel and the narrator’s love. Instead of signifying joy, light, and beauty, they symbolize darkness, unfairness and evil. In line 30, the narrator gives the impression of how the angels thought they would conquer by taking Annabel but his tie to Annabel is solid. Pairing the demons and the angels signifies that the angels are not agents good and bad at all