Close reading on the poem Annabel Lee

Close reading on the poem Annabel Lee

The Poem “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe is a mastery piece of work which encompasses many poetic styles. This paper aims to do a close reading of the poem. In the close read, I will identify the point of view, characterization, setting, tone, symbolism and sensory details. Also, the paper will discuss the significance of each aspect of poetry mentioned above.

The point of view of this poem is from the poet. In line one stanza two the poet says, “I was a child and she was a child” which shows the poem is written in a first point of view. The poet is narrating about the great love they used to share with Annabel Lee and how she died. In the narration, the reader gets a vivid image of how great their love was to the point that even death could not separate the young lovers. The readers get a lively narration from the poet who makes the message he wants to pass believable. The reader gets the impression that the poet is narrating a personal experience. As such, the point of view chosen by the poem enhances the believability of the poem.

The poet used several characters for the poem, each with different character traits. The first character is the poet. When narrating about his love for Annabel Lee, the poet comes out as a loving man and caring man. As the poem continues, the poet comes out as a persistent man. The persistence comes in where he sleeps beside his dead lover. His actions imply that he was willing to continue loving Annabel Lee even though she was long gone. Throughout the poem, the poet appears like a delusional character. The poet filled with illusions, claims that angels who envied their love caused the death of Annabel Lee.

Another character in the poem is Annabel Lee. Annabel gets portrayed as a loving woman because from the words of the poet; in stanza one line five and six, “and this maiden she lived with no other thought than to love and be loved by me”. Furthermore, Annabel comes out as a charming character. Since the poet is unable to move on from his dead lover, Annabel must have been a very charming lover that even in death; her lover still sleeps by her side.

The final characters in the poem are the kin of Annabel. The poet describes them as “highborn kinsmen” who took her and shut her away in a tomb. From the description of the poet, the kin of Annabel gets portrayed as proud people. The introduction of the kin also implies that Annabel and the poet were not married. If the two lovers were married, the poet would have buried her rather than her kin.

All the three characters in the poem are significant because they give the readers an insight into the life of the poet. The poet and Annabel display the affection which the two shared. Then, the kin comes in to show that although the two shared unconditional love, they were not bound by marriage.

The poem is set in a kingdom by the sea as seen in the first line of the first stanza. The kingdom is most likely on a cliff because the poet mentions a roaring sea, most probably from the waves crashing with the cliff. The mention of demons deep under the sea brings the notion of a dull and dark kingdom. The setting is significant because it enables the reader to understand how the love between the poet and Annabel Lee brightened up their dull and dreary world.

The tone of the poem is delusional. The poet is mourning the death of his lover and in consolation; he comes up with an idea of what caused her death. The poet says in stanza four, “the angels in heaven were jealous of our love that they sent a chilling wind at night that ended up killing my Annabel Lee”. Furthermore, the poet seems angered by the kin who buried Annabel even though they were not legally married. The poet gets lost in the idea that Annabel belongs to him that even the kin had no right to bury her. In his delusion, the poet sees Annabel in everything he does, and he also sleeps next to her dead body. The delusional tone is significant since it portrays the state of mind of the poet.

The poet uses the kingdom by the sea to symbolize the immortality of love. The kingdom by the sea is mentioned throughout the poem to show that the romance between Annabel Lee and the poet was continuous and just as the kingdom by the sea continued to exist; their love would live on too.

The poet uses the seraphs to symbolize injustice. Commonly, angels are supposed to represent love and care, but in this poem, they get portrayed as jealous. The angels represent the dominant members of society whose role is to protect the weak but instead; they use their power to suppress the powerless. The poet and Annabel were just children, but the angels were jealous of their love.

The poet uses various sensory details to paint an image in the mind of the reader. The reader can feel a chill when the poet says, “the wind blew out of a cold, chilling my beautiful Annabel Lee”. The poet brings out this effect by describing the chilling wind twice in the poem. Also, the reader can imagine two young lovers in a kingdom by the sea with angels staring down with envy while the demons look down from the sea with anger. The scene is brought to life when the poet uses descriptive language. Sensory details are significant as they paint a clear image for the reader.