Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe

If there's such a thing as 'Last Poem Syndrome' ---"Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe would be mine...

I've been reciting the second stanza since this morning and I don't know why---

I remember that we were asked to memorize this poem in High School.

Some say that the inspiration for "Annabel Lee" was Poe's real-life wife, Virginia Clemm, who died very young.




Annabel Lee

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 Poet and Writer who can be considered as the pioneer of the Detective Fiction genre. 


Poe
Virginia Clemm
He's also known for this fondness of the short story genre. In fact, the Edgar Award, which is presented annually by the Mystery Writers of America was dedicated to him. 

He also wrote the "The Raven", "The Murders in Rue Morgue", "the Masque of Red Death", and other tales of the macabre.

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