In a Kingdom by the Sea
There is nothing quite like a first love. The emotions are fresh and feel stronger and stranger than anything before; it is almost magical. For most, the feelings of a first love can seem quite difficult to capture in words but Edgar Allan Poe proves himself able in his poem "Annabel Lee". The poem, considered a ballad by most, honors the memory of Poe's deceased wife, Virginia, who died two years prior to him writing the poem. While the death of a beautiful woman is a common theme in Poe's writing, “Annabel Lee” presents a deeper theme of eternal love through the use of imagery and a unique use of the many elements of poetry.
By using imagery, Poe allows what the speaker feels to be known and even felt by the reader. His use of imagery to portray the setting is critical to this particular literary piece, in that it is through setting that one gains a significantly better realization of his anguish. [For example in this quote]:
“A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea" (lines 16-21)
"In a kingdom by the sea" expresses both a mystical, magical place where their love lasts forever, as well as the brutally, depressing home of the deceased lover's tomb.
In this stanza Poe illustrates a strong, dark force stealing Annabel away from him and brutally "shutting" her up in a tomb.
Throughout the poem, Poe's use of personal imagery (the diction used to embody one’s feelings), demonstrates the depth of his feelings- happy and sad. He uses emotional and penetrating words to reveal a vivid image of the speaker's pain as well as the joy he once felt from his tr...
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...aker's sorrow but also the immense positivity and joy he feels about their love. This poem focusing on love, death, and the mourning of a loved one, evokes almost every type of emotion including empathy, anger, joy, envy, and grief, making for an intense read. Also the meter gives the poem a sort of a somber lullaby that parallels the fairy tale theme. The setting and the speaker's feelings are reflected in Poe's powerful words. He uses repetition and wave like rhythms to continue the quick, ever-changing, repetitive lament that embodies the seaside setting, the storyline (love, loss, mourning), and the entire energy of the poem( positive energy of love, negative energy of loss). Any reader who can appreciate the sweetness and sadness of a great story even if it does not end particularly happy would love this poem and should wait no longer for it to rock their world.
"And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side, of my darling--my darling--my life and my bride" (Annabel Lee) In his final, concluding words, the narrator finishes the poem in a light and sanguine tone as he explains calmly that he sleeps every night beside her tomb on the seashore. This detail reveals the extent of his obession upon her memory and causes one to imagine that his largely sweet and innocent account of pure love actually harbors an unstable mind. Even though she is dead, he still cannot let go of her memory. This poem reflects Poe himself, his life, and his loss of a loved
Poe’s life was never an easy one which could have gave him the inspiration he need to create such dark tales. From the “The Raven” which makes the reader feel along with narrator over the loss of someone dear and spiraling into a state of depression. To the tale of “The Tell-Tale Heart” which makes a person think why the narrator believe he is sane and in the right for killing the man. Edgar Allan Poe writes dark tales but his stories draw a person in and leaves the reader
Edgar Allan Poe primarily authored stories dealing with Gothic literature; the stories were often quite dreary. Poe possessed a very sorrowful view of the world and he expressed this throughout his literary works. His goal was to leave an impression with every detail that he included in his stories. Although Poe’s stories seem very wretched and lackluster they all convey a certain idea. A trademark of Poe’s is his use of very long complex sentences. For instance, in his work The Fall of the House of Usher, Poe tried to ensure that every detail was as relevant as possible by integrating a wide variety of emotion. In the third paragraph, of page two hundred ninety-seven, Poe wrote, “Feeble gleams of encrimsoned light made their way through the trellised panes, and served to render sufficiently distinct the more prominent objects around…” This sentence illustrates the descriptiveness and complexity that Edgar Allan Poe’s works consisted of. The tormented cognizance of Poe led him to use a very gloomy diction throughout his writing. Edgar Allan Poe’s use of symbols and the way he conveyed his writing expr...
As the reading above indicates, Poe grieved continuously throughout his life for his sainted “Lenore”. He wrote numerous poems before and after the death of Virginia Clemm to her. “Annabel Lee” was actually written before the death of Virginia as a token of his undying love for her.
Edgar Allan Poe's deplorable life was filled with unfortunate calamity, endless tragedies, and pathetic misery, which inevitably led to his pessimistic view on life and obsession with death. His personal mind frame is automatically conveyed in his essays, which for him was a primary form of expression. Thus, a strong emphasis on somber despondency has proven to be a thematic element of his literary career.
Poe utilizes a gradual change in diction as the poem progresses. Initially, he begins the poem with melancholic diction when the narrator is falling asleep: “while I pondered, weak and weary,” “nodded, nearly napping,” and “of someone gently rapping” (1-4). The utilization of alliteration in these lines supply a song-like rhythm, which is soothing to the reader. This usage of diction conveys a mellow tone. Further into the poem, when the increasingly agitated narrator becomes vexed at the raven, he lashes out at the bird. Here, he states, “Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore! / Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken! / Leave my loneliness unbroken!--quit the bust above my door! / Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!” (98-101). Here, his uses archaic words and phrases such as “thee,” “Night’s Plutonian shore,” and “thy soul hath”. This usage of unorthodox language creates a theatrical, dramatic, and climactic effect, which leads to an impassioned tone. By presenting both tones, Poe is able to show the contrast between the two. This transformation from a tone that is mellow to one of frustration and anxiety represents the spiraling downward of the narrator’s mental state.
Few poets have mastered the techniques of symbolism in poetry as well as the immense works of Edgar Allan Poe. An example of this is his final poem, “Annabel Lee,” which was published in 1849. This narrative poem consists of two characters, the young man telling the story and his angelic bride, Annabel Lee. Throughout Poe’s poem, Annabel Lee is taken away from the young man by the envious angels. What prompted Poe to write this particular poem was that held in it many of his main universal themes such as death, disease and being buried. When delving into this in comparison to his own life, it seems somewhat ironic that this was his final work to be published, since it seems to share a staggering resemblance to his own life. In his piece of writing, “Annabel Lee,” Poe uses metaphors and symbolism to develop his
Melancholy and beauty go hand in hand for Poe. If his goal is to bring about the "excitement of the soul," then that can only be achie...
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 Poe’s own life no durg could ever fully numb him to the pain of all his loses. His only true solace from his despair was in literature and his writings. Poe believed that visual art allowed the spirit to transcend the plane of reality to which it was stuck. In the Raven the narrator closely resembles Poe in this aspect. The narrator spends many a night reading long forgotten literature in an attempt to forget his own troubles after his loss. This is explained beautifully by Poe with the line “Eagerly I wished the morrow;- vainly I had tried to borrow, / From my books surcease of sorrow- sorrow for the lost Lenore.” (Poe 9-10) No matter how hard he tries; however he can shake the crushing despair that has a firm grip on his emotions. One dreary night the narrator gained an unsuspecting visitor. This visitor came in the form of a raven that flew into his window. The raven torments the man reminding him of his insecurities, his flaws, and his loss. The raven accomplishes all these things by rhythmically answering his pleas with but one word, to quote the raven “nevermore.” Just like the narrator will nevermore see the face of his dead love, he too will never be free from his despair. For as long as the man lives much like Poe he
For poets, it is essential that they write about what they know and what they feel, as the substance of what they are revealing will enhance their work and ultimately attract audiences. Edgar Allan Poe is one poet whose personal endeavours can be extracted from his poems. His works such as The Raven, Annabel-Lee and Ulalume are just a few of his most celebrated poems that reflect diverse aspects of Poe’s own life. Poe’s reoccurring themes of death in conjunction with love, the subconsciousness of self and ambiguity attracted audiences to become entranced in his work (Spark Notes, 2014). Adjacent to these intriguing themes is how Poe’s personal life was inexplicitly perceived in his poems, in particular The Raven. Poe’s life is reflected through
Death is tragic and one of the most finite things on Earth. It can turn an average human being insane and change his/her life forever. Losing someone close and dear is incredibly painful and an experience one will not forget. Death can cause numerous emotions to bubble up, like sorrow, and grief. In “The Raven” Poe utilizes imagery, diction, and figurative language along with symbolism to illustrate how isolation can cause madness when one comes to terms with the finite consequences of death.
Edgar Allan Poe was able to clearly illustrate the theme, the speaker, and the setting of the poem through the use of repetition and imagery. It is unmistakable that the theme of the poem was love. Poe used an extensive amount of repetition of the word “love” throughout the poem, to convey that love is the main theme of his poem. He also used the phrase “in a kingdom by the sea” many times in order to reveal that the setting of the poem was in a kingdom by the sea. Repetition and imagery also gave clues as to who was narrating the poem. The excessive use of the word “I” and “my” indicated that Edgar Allan Poe was the
Edgar Allan Poe’s 1849 poem, “Annabel Lee”, explores the common themes of romance and death found in many of Poe’s works. The poem tells the story of a beautiful young maiden named Annabel Lee who resides by the sea. The maiden and the narrator of the poem are deeply in love, however the maiden falls ill and dies, leaving the narrator without his beloved Annabel Lee. Contrary to what many might expect from a poem by Poe and yet still depressing, the poem ends with the narrator accepting Annabel’s death and remains confident that they will forever be together despite her parting.
The short story is generally a study in human terror. Furthermore, the author explains Poe use of a particular style and technique, to not only create the mood of mystery, but to cause the reader to feel sympathy for the narrator. Poe makes a connection between the storyteller and reader with knowledge and literary craftsmanship.