Edgar Allen Poe was an American poet known for his haunting stories centered around death, madness, and loss. One of Poe’s most famous poem, Annabel Lee, includes these themes as the core centerpiece or the work. This tale of a grieving lover obsessing over his lost loved one is full of feelings of depression, madness, and preoccupation. One of the major ways Poe expresses these intense negative feelings and thoughts is through use of repetition, particularly of the titular character’s name, and using parallelism. To Begin, the narrator of the poem repeatedly calls out Annabel’s name throughout the poem. Her name is mentioned in full at least seven times in the poem, at lease once per stanza. Additionally, her name is almost always spoken with the title of “my beautiful Annabel Lee”. The narrator mentions her name many times to give the reader a sense of how obsessed and how devoted he is to his lost loved one specifically. With each mention, the speaker cements the idea of his devotion to his love. The reader can really sense how the deceased woman can linger in his mind, and he cannot get the maiden out. …show more content…
Poe uses parallelism in his poem to highlight the devotion and dedication the narrator has over the titular Annabel Lee and to the objects and places she is associated with. Some of the phrases that are repeated also helps the reader notice more details about Annabel Lee, her depressed lover, and her final resting place. One of the phrases help describe the setting of the poem and Annabel’s final resting place; a land by the sea. This place, the land by the sea, is repeated many times throughout the poem. It is the location where the two first met as children, and the final resting place of Annabel. The significance of the location is why it is repeated many times over the poem. The sea holds his lost love, and he dwells on the sea for the same reason he dwells upon her