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Use Of Imagery In Edgar Allan Poe's Annabel Lee

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Edgar Allan Poe was an extraordinary writer that brought a lot to our culture through his work. In his short 40 year life he had written around 147 literary works, from short stories, poems,essays and even a play. But what actually gave life to these works, what was the inspiration behind them, what was on Poe’s mind when he put pen to paper.
Poe lost everyone he had ever loved and you can feel his sorrow in some of his poems. In my personal favorite poem of his, Annabel Lee, the speaker is remembering one of his loves that was taken away from him by death. Poe uses a lot of imagery in his work the first being the kingdom he speaks of and is a reoccurring subject in this poem. He may be trying convey a place of solitude or even something that …show more content…

Similar to death, a ocean is a powerful thing in nature that cannot be stopped. The demons that live beneath the sea want to tear the two apart but the two souls can not be dissevered, basically saying that even after death Poe’s love will not be any different than when she was alive.
In her tomb or sepulchre by the sea she lay, the ocean holds everything together, from the kingdom to the demons and at last her final resting spot. Poe uses alliteration throughout the poem but mostly using Sea as the root word for his alliterations.
The moon plays a factor into the tides of the sea but the the tides of his heart, he personifies the moon saying that the moon brings him dreams of Annabel Lee at night and the stars are actually the eyes of his beloved Annabel Lee peering through the clouds. Poe adds a dash of mythological feel to it, with the maiden, kingdom and the winged seraphs. The seraphs are evil and despise the love between Annabel Lee and the narrator. These seraphs are portrayed as dark creatures instead of the holy angels that we’d expect. Between the demons below and the winged seraphs above, it’s the lovers versus the world. But inevitably Annabel Lee would be taken away physically from the narrator but not spiritually as I Justified

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