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Tucker08087

(621 posts)
Tue Mar 3, 2020, 05:01 AM Mar 2020

My Favorite by Poe: Annabel Lee

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.



5 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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My Favorite by Poe: Annabel Lee (Original Post) Tucker08087 Mar 2020 OP
So beautiful. emmaverybo Mar 2020 #1
I also loved the adaptation to song that Joan Baez did back in the 1960s. japple Mar 2020 #2
It is a hauntingly beautiful poem. Tucker08087 Mar 2020 #3
That was lovely! I found it online! Tucker08087 Mar 2020 #4
Tell your son that you and your friends were romantics! It does sound like something I would have japple Mar 2020 #5

japple

(9,808 posts)
2. I also loved the adaptation to song that Joan Baez did back in the 1960s.
Tue Mar 3, 2020, 08:02 AM
Mar 2020

Don't know who wrote/arranged the music, but it was hauntingly beautiful.

Tucker08087

(621 posts)
4. That was lovely! I found it online!
Wed Mar 4, 2020, 01:32 AM
Mar 2020

Joan’s voice is both haunting but lilting, and the musical arrangement seems to stress both the beauty of their love as well as the youth of the two.

I did some post-graduate work at Kenyon in Ohio, and I told my son (who is in 11th grade) that we all met in a cemetery when the harvest moon was high, to read from authors known to scare others. I read this poem. My son rolled his eyes and said, “Boy, you guys were really nerds!” Ha! I guess we were, but we sure had fun!

japple

(9,808 posts)
5. Tell your son that you and your friends were romantics! It does sound like something I would have
Wed Mar 4, 2020, 08:02 AM
Mar 2020

done back in the day. Thanks for sharing that piece of your history. It truly sounds like a fabulous time.

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