Annabel Lee, Research Paper Example

The mournful “Annabel Lee” from Edgar Allan Poe presents a mournful subject which can be connected to the second poem in the present analysis.  Charles Baudelaire’s “The Murderer’s Wine” presents a separate yet more blatantly negative view, which can be connected to the tendencies of both poets.  Within the tendencies of the poets and in the two poems, and focusing on Poe’s emotional foundations, Poe and Baudelaire emphasize the mournful and negative undertones.

Edgar Allan Poe

Before identifying present themes within the poems, it is important to identify crucial tendencies within Poe’s works.  The topic of Poe’s “Annabel Lee” can be seen along analogous lines of other poems from Poe, such as “The Raven,” To One in Paradise,” and “Ulalume.”  These along with the present poem follow the theme of the death of a beautiful woman, which is known as Poe’s favorite theme (Myers 243).

“Annabel Lee”

Poe’s “Annabel Lee” follows this popular theme within the text of the poem.  Worshipping the woman of the poem, the narrator worships her after she had died.  Similar to other poems from Poe, they have married when they were younger and she becomes ill.  The poem sees the narrator coming to terms with his powerful feelings of loss, along with childlike views of their love.

The structure of the poem can helps to explain the mournful effect found.  According to Quinn, Poe referred to the poem as a ballad, though it is technically not one (606).  The repetition of words and phrases helps to convey the mournful effect, like that of a ballad.  Less relevant to the mournful effect of the poem is in its rhyme scheme, which differs slightly in each of the six stanzas.

It is important to identify the significant of the poetic devices used to convey the mournful effect in the poem.  Perhaps most significant and worthy of mention is that of repetition.  As mentioned prior, it helps to convey the negative emotions felt by the narrator in relationship to Annabel Lee and her death.

Repetition: “The Sea”

In identifying these repetitious words and phrases, one significant phrase is found in the phrase “kingdom by the sea” (Poe).  In fact, if we reduce it to simply “the sea” then we may state that this term occurs in every stanza of the poem.  The phrase is ultimately one of contrast, from the high and low points of the poem’s emotions, from the viewpoint of the narrator.

This term sees significance in the higher and lower emotions of the narrator.  “The sea” plays a pivotal role in establishing the kingdom in which the narrator and Annabel Lee fell in love.  It even marks the point in which she falls ill, where the “wind blew out of a cloud” in the “kingdom by the sea” (Poe) in the third stanza.  This thereby marks a transition from the beginning of their relationship to the end.

The term becomes further contrasted as the poem progresses.  The second half of the poem uses the term for dramatic effect in retrospect.  In particular, the fifth stanza sees a unique point of contrast, where the “demons down under the sea” (Poe) cannot come between the souls of the two lovers.  Of course, the ending contrast uses “sea” as the final word in the two lines at the end of the poem, to end the dramatic conveying of melancholy and pain.

Repetition: “Annabel Lee”

Repetition in the poem also takes place in the name of the deceased lover of the narrator, Annabel Lee.  Poe uses it in a similar manner to that of “the sea,” whereby the high and low emotions are seen in the use of the term.  Poe contrasts accordingly with the term, similar to that of the previous repeated term.

The narrator’s deceased lover is found by name in every stanza of the poem.  These two phrases, of the present and current analysis of repetition, represent the only major terms that are found in every stanza of the poem.  Accordingly, the present repeated term carries a high level of significance in the contrasting of emotions for the narrator.

The beginning of the poem sees the woman’s name as an introduction to the love story.  In the first stanza we seen the introduction of the young lady, and in the second we see the introduction of the two together (Poe).  These two instances establish the presence of the woman in the narrator’s life.

The middle two stanzas see the contrast used on the name of the woman.  In the third stanza we see the young woman becoming sick.  This is followed in the fourth stanza with the death of the young woman (Poe).  These instances see high levels of emotion in both instances.  The former example sees impact in the pause utilized by Poe, taking the time to explicitly state of the woman’s beauty.  The latter sees explicit words in the imagery of Annabel Lee’s death, which is utilized once again by Poe.

Finally, the ending two stanzas see an interesting development in the repetition of the woman’s name.  Poe uses the same sentence, “of the beautiful Annabel Lee” (Poe), in the stanzas three times, instead of the normal once per stanza seen otherwise.  It also occurs in every other line, beginning with the end of the fifth stanza.  Here Poe takes the emotional side of the woman’s name, using it to convey the eternal notion of their love, and of Annabel Lee’s beauty in the repetition of her name.

In these instances of repetition, the utilization of this method has great effect emotionally in the poem.  It also helps to convey the mourning narrator.  Even in the sharp and explicit emptying of the narrator, it establishes the dramatic and tragic nature of their story.

Charles Baudelaire

As the present analysis focuses on the undertones present in Poe’s work and poems, it is helpful to bring Charles Baudelaire’s “The Murderer’s Wine” into the equation.  This will help identify the influence of Poe, as Poe certainly influenced many with his mournful undertones.  However, Baudelaire’s poem can be seen independently in the negative undertones that he utilizes to convey emotion.

Similar to Poe, Baudelaire suffered with poverty, illness, and melancholy.  He became a controversial figure in light of the themes of sex and death, and Baudelaire has become synonymous with literary and artistic decadence.  According to Hart, Baudelaire and others “are indebted to Poe for a large measure of their terrors and exquisite revulsions” (13).

Thus we may begin to see Poe’s influence on Baudelaire.  As evident in Baudelaire’s life, he even became evident with Poe’s works, as well as that which he had in common with Poe.  Extending towards his poems, and within the present poem in the analysis, the negative emotional undertones can be seen in his work.

“The Murderer’s Wine”

Baudelaire’s poem presents quite a wide range of emotions in the poem.  The narrator proclaims that he has killed his wife, to which her presence has increasingly caused pain and strife.  The narrator, after having admitted that he has killed his wife, begins sinking into the mix of good and bad emotions which are equated with love (Baudelaire).

Imagery

Similar to Poe’s poem, in that of emotional force, Baudelaire develops his explicit feelings with imagery used throughout the poem.  While it represents a technique that is not primarily used in Poe’s poem, both poets use their respective methods to present deep depictions of emotions.  For Baudelaire, these emotions are quite explicit, in that of his pain and happiness, as the narrator claims.

Negative emotion is used by Baudelaire within the poem quite significantly, for a poem that conveys such explicit notions of violence and happiness.  For instance, the narrator begins in his pain, saying that “her crying knifed the heart in me” (Baudelaire).  As the narrator relates the imagery to his inner pain, it becomes extended later in the poem.  Most significantly, this is seen where the narrator relates love to negative emotions, citing “dark, enchanting pains” and terms like “anxieties,” “flasks of poison,” “tears,” and the “rattlings of bones and chains” (Baudelaire).  These terms certainly convey the negative and troubling emotions the narrator presents.

The poem also sees the positive notions of the narrator.  It is important to note that these are claimed, as the narrator is purposefully quite unbalanced.  In the poem the narrator claims that he is “happy as a king” and of his freedom and lack of remorse or fear (Baudelaire).  Baudelaire certainly contrasts notions of pain with these, perhaps false, notions of happiness from the point of view of the narrator.

Conclusion

Poe and Baudelaire both express deep emotional pain in the two poems.  As these two can be seen with respect to each other, they represent poets that can utilize these emotions in the poem.  They turn into emotions that are contrasted with positive ones to express deep sentiments from the point of view of the narrators.

Works Cited

Baudelaire, Charles. The Murderer’s Wine. Public Domain Poetry and Stories. N.D. Web. May 10, 2010.

Hart, Richard. The Supernatural in Edgar Allan Poe. Baltimore: The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, 1936.

Myers, Jeffrey. Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy. New York: Cooper Square Press, 1992.

Poe, Edgar Allan. Annabel Lee. Public Domain Poetry and Stories. N.D. Web. May 10, 2010.

Quinn, Arthur Hobson. Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins UniversityPress, 1998.