Edgar Allan Poe's Annabel Lee

“But we loved with a love that was more than love—.” (Line 9). As shown in Poe’s “Annabel Lee,” Poe displays a prodigious amount of love for his beloved soulmate, wife, and bride Annabel Lee, through the form of poetry. Poe and Annabel Lee have a relationship that is indissoluble in all aspects, and Poe clearly displays many of these throughout the work. The death of his wife Annabel Lee, takes a huge toll on Poe, leaving him to feel miserable, and lonely for the rest of his life. As a result of Poe’s endearment towards Annabel Lee, he channels his joys and sorrows of his love with Annabel through the use of personification, repetition, and imagery leaving the reader to feel the misery and depression of Poe’s life without Annabel by his side.

Unlike most love stories, which are joyful and merry, “Annabel Lee” shows the darker, deeper, side of love. Poe was so fixated on the thought of love and the idea behind his relationship with Annabel Lee, that when she dies, Poe experiences lack of motivation and self worth. After his wife’s death, Poe blames the angels in heaven for causing his wife’s death because he knows that the angels were jealous of the bond and affection that Poe and Annabel Lee had for one another. Poe justifies this by claiming, “With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven coveted her and me.” (Lines 11-12). It is evident that their love is so powerful and strong the angels even notice it. The angles then “wish” for bad luck and wrongful desire upon them, because they had such a strong connection with one another. Although love is the most important thing for Poe, love ends up trapping him in a dark state, of isolation for him to endure, and live with for the rest of his