“Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe is a poem about a young man and woman’s love story. The story follows a love that provokes even the angels to strip the man of the woman as she passes away in the poem. The poem surrounds the themes of love and how both deep love and death cause great grief and sorrow. 

I particularly love how Poe develops the poem and creates it into a short story. While reading, it barely feels like a real poem, and rather a simple story about a couple in love and their tragic ending. I also love the way that Poe describes the couple’s love as he conveys their love as almost ethereal and something only seen once in a lifetime. The reader is truly immersed in their love especially with how Poe emphasizes how they had a “love that was more than love.” 

I did not dislike anything in particular, except for Poe’s eccentric habit of writing about a young, beautiful woman’s death. I find Edgar Allan Poe an extremely odd man who often wrote about darker themes. Despite how much I enjoy his poems, they may appear a bit strange or may carry hints of weird recurring themes. 

I truly enjoy this poem and recommend that anyone reads it. “Annabel Lee” is a short poem that is easy and fun to read that makes you wonder more about the couple’s story. Please give it a try as well as Edgar Allan Poe’s other works like Tell Tale Heart, a short novel, or even “The Bells,” another poem.

Kaiya T.

Books by Edgar Allan Poe are available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. They are also available to download for free from Libby.