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Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe

Annabel Lee

by

subjects: Poetry

  • EPUB 65 KB

  • Kindle 79 KB

Description

Edgar Allan Poe’s dream poem is as close to music as words can ever come. First published on October 9, 1849 – two days after Poe’s death – this haunting, lyric poem is thought to have been written in memory of Poe’s young wife, Virginia. The narrator, who fell in love with Annabel Lee when they were young, has a love for her so strong that even angels are jealous. He retains his love for her even after her death.

NOTE: As this story is only a few hundred words in length, it is given in full in the excerpt section below.


1 page with a reading time of ~15 minutes (301 words), and first published in 1849. This DRM-Free edition published by epubBooks, .

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Excerpt

At only 301 words, I’ve include the full story of Annabel Lee below.

 It was many and many a year ago,
     In a kingdom by the sea,
 That a maiden 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 wingéd 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 by night
     Chilling my ANNABEL LEE;
 So that her high-born 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, 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 see 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 side of the sea.