"But we loved with a love that was more than love--I and my Annabel Lee..."

As my readers will come to find out in this blog, Edgar Allan Poe is one of my favorite writers and "Annabel Lee" is one of my favorite love poems. Now, before you cringe thinking I'm a tortured soul who's only comfort is dark corners and eerie hallways, let me explain myself on why such a dark poem by one of the darkest writers in American history strikes my emotions that relate to love and romance. I first read "Annabel Lee" when I was sixteen in my Honors English class. We read it just to become familiar with Poe and his dictation in writing. After reading this poem, I was surprised at how very loving and sensual this was-- something I didn't normally affiliate with Poe's writings. For a little historical analysis behind the context, Poe wrote "Annabel Lee" to convey his feelings after the loss of his wife Virginia, who died of Tuberculosis. They were childhood sweethearts ("I was a child, and she was a child, in this kingdom by the sea...), and though Poe had many women in his life, she was the one who always inspired his tortured writings relating to loss of a loved one.

Which brings me back to why this poem strikes me. The way he writes about this maiden by the sea is so adoring and devoted-- something I've always wanted in love. He writes of a love that is so powerful and strong, that even the angels in heaven "covet" the love and the demons below cannot break it. At the end of the poem, he goes on to say that he lies down by the side of his "darling-my darling- my life and my bride," which goes to say that the bond he shares with his love continues on even after death and beyond the grave. To me, to have a love so strong that can break the bands of death makes a life worth living and a chance worth taking. Though this poem nurses a tragic ending, the message about love illuminates any shadows found in Poe's world and leaves something we as readers can take home. Read it below, and you'll find the amazing feel of the power of love behind the words.

Annabel Lee
BY EDGAR ALLAN POE

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.