Venus as Annabel Lee, mixed media, 8″ x 11″

Art by Ted Giffin

 

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.

The gorgeous painting by Ted Giffin is reminiscent of how plump women were valued during the Renaissance period (14th – 16th Century). Back then, women’s life expectancy was about 25 years old.

A side note to Poe’s poem: ‘Annabel Lee’ was the last poem Edgar Allan Poe wrote before his death in 1849. He sold the rights to it while he was still alive, but it was not published until after his death. Haunted as he was by the loss of many women in his life, including his young wife who died two years before him, Poe often wrote about women dying. ‘Annabel Lee’ is no exception. Since the poem was written after Poe’s wife’s death, it is believed that it was probably written for her.’ (study.com)

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