Structure
Form
While often described as a ballad, Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee" exhibits some unique features that blur the lines between traditional ballad form and a more personal, lyrical style. Like traditional ballads, "Annabel Lee" tells a story with a clear beginning, middle, and end. The poem starts with an introduction to the narrator's love for Annabel Lee, moves through the conflict of her death, and concludes with the narrator's declaration of eternal love. This linear narrative structure helps engage the reader and draws them into the story.
Ballads often feature repetitive refrains or lines that are repeated throughout the poem. The repetition of phrases such as "in the kingdom by the sea" and "Annabel Lee" serves to reinforce key themes and motifs. These refrains create a sense of rhythm and musicality, enhancing the poem's lyrical quality. Ballads are known for their emotional resonance, and "Annabel Lee" is no exception.
However, Poe's language is more ornate and sophisticated, featuring rich imagery and intricate word choices, which is not the norm for traditional ballads. Also, unlike the strict ballad meter with alternating tetrameter and trimeter lines, "Annabel Lee" features lines of varying lengths, adding fluidity and emotional nuance. While ballads typically tell a story, "Annabel Lee" focuses on expressing the speaker's grief and love. The poem delves into the speaker's internal world, exploring themes of love, loss, and the afterlife, which stray from the more objective storytelling often found in ballads.
Meter
"Annabel Lee" isn't a perfect example of any single metrical form, but instead utilizes a flexible and expressive meter that contributes to the poem's emotional impact and thematic nuances. The poem primarily uses anapests, a metrical foot with two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable (da-DUM). This creates a galloping rhythm that reflects the speaker's passionate emotions and relentless grief. Occasionally, iambs (one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable, DUM-da) appear, offering moments of calm amidst the emotional fervor. These shifts in meter can highlight changes in tone or emphasize specific words. Lines vary in length from tetrameter (four metrical feet) to heptameter (seven feet), adding flexibility and avoiding a monotonous rhythm. This reflects the fluidity of the speaker's thoughts and emotions. Internal rhymes and assonance (repetition of vowel sounds) further enrich the sound and emphasize key words and phrases.
Rhyme Scheme
"Annabel Lee" utilizes a fascinating rhyme scheme that contributes to its haunting melody and thematic complexity. The poem oscillates between rhythmic regularity and unsettling irregularity, mirroring the speaker's conflicted state of grief and obsession.
The dominant ABABCB pattern in the shorter lines relies heavily on a restricted set of rhymes: "sea," "Lee," "me," and "we." This repetition isn't merely decorative; it acts as a sonic echo of the speaker's fixated mind. Every other line pulls him back to thoughts of Annabel Lee, the sea, and their eternal bond. The lack of diverse rhymes reflects his inability to move on; his entire emotional landscape revolves around their lost love.
Beyond the dominant pattern, there are also internal rhymes in the poem that further emphasize key themes. The link between "chilling" and "killing" in line 26 underscores the wind's devastating role in Annabel Lee's death. Additionally, the interconnected rhymes in lines 34, 36, and 38 ("beams/dreams...rise/eyes...tide/side") build towards a climax. These echoes suggest the speaker's deep connection to Annabel Lee, perceiving her presence in everything around him—the moon, stars, and even the sea.
The interplay between regular and irregular patterns, along with the restricted vocabulary, creates a hypnotic effect. This reflects the speaker's emotional turmoil, the cyclical nature of grief, and his unwavering fixation on his lost love.
