A Journey Through Edgar Allan Poe’s Annabel Lee

Have you read anything about love recently? If not, Edgar Allan Poe’s Annabel Lee is a beautiful place to start—it takes you down the timeless paths of love. What’s your take on love?

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. 

I was a child and she was a child, 

 In this kingdom by the sea, 

But we loved with a love that was more than love—

 I and my Annabel Lee—

With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven 

 Coveted her and me. 

And this was the reason that, long ago, 

 In this kingdom by the sea

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling 

 My beautiful Annabel Lee; 

So that her highborn kinsmen came 

 And bore her away from me, 

To shut her up in a sepulchre 

 In this kingdom by the sea. 

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven, 

 Went envying her and me—

Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know, 

 In this kingdom by the sea) 

That the wind came out of the cloud by night, 

 Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee. 

But our love it was stronger by far than the love 

 Of those who were older than we—

 Of many far wiser than we—

And neither the angels in Heaven above 

 Nor the demons down under the sea 

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul 

 Of the beautiful 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; 

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 sea—

 In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American author, poet, and literary critic whose works are still widely read today. "Annabel Lee" is the last, complete poem published by Poe before his death. It remains a mystery who — if anyone — was the inspiration for this poem.