Poe, Edgar Allen. "Annabel Lee".

Summary

The speaker relates his story: There lived a beautiful maiden Annabel Lee in a kingdom by the sea. She and the speaker were children but their love was more than love. Angels envied them their love because they were not half so happy in heaven. The angels sent a cloud and wind which chilled and killed Annabel Lee. She was carried to a tomb by the sea.

But their love was stronger than any other love. So the moon and the stars always remind the speaker of Annabel Lee, and he spends nights in her tomb lying beside her.

Analysis

- a Romantic/Gothic poem: preoccupied with beauty, love, and death

- repeats the phrases "the beautiful Annabel Lee", "kingdom by the sea", and "more" in a refrain-like way

- the ingenious repetitions create the impression of a wailing song