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Thread: Annabel Lee-what was Poe's the key point to glorify Death over Love?

  1. #1
    Rima rima's Avatar
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    Annabel Lee-what was Poe's the key point to glorify Death over Love?

    One of my favorite poem is "'Annabel Lee" by Edgar Alan Poe
    I realised a Review on this Poem you will able to read it here.

    Amazing Poem,beautiful Love goes beyond the death.
    "Trying to plumb the key point Edgar Alan Poe's connection between Love/Life and Death i’ think finally got to the point:It is about Reconciliation with Destiny-to be surrendered and being aware of sense to be helpless,when you know there is nothing you can change anymore!"

    I would like to know your contemplation on relationship Life/Love-Death

    I know, if there is a great Love,it leads to someone's suffering and possibly death.But i am curious, whether there was something deeper in Poe's mind related to writing this poem to glorify Death over/Love?
    Please write your thinking on this essence and eternal theme.

    ps:my blog http://slavicavista.wordpress.com/20...veannabel-lee/
    I write Abstracts&Reviews on favorite Masterpieces.The main theme is quest for grail of eternal Youth.I won old age.
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    Registered User kelby_lake's Avatar
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    I think it's about feeling blessed, the thought that your happiness is so great that it must be broken, and then the power of the individual to hold onto that happiness.

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    Rima rima's Avatar
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    There is some truth in your words;i myself experienced love that can be named *great love*and was broken.Many forces worked against that love!.Usually big happenings and things are destroyed.
    I write Abstracts&Reviews on favorite Masterpieces.The main theme is quest for grail of eternal Youth.I won old age.
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    Bibliophile Drkshadow03's Avatar
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    Actually I think Annabel Lee is mocking love poetry. He presents the poem as if it were for children, giving a fairytale quality: "It was many and many a year ago,/In a kingdom by the sea," implying that "love poetry" is for incredulous children. The rest of the poem is overdone and sing-song. The guy's love is over the top, bordering on obsession.

    Basically it's a poem about necrophilia:

    And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
    Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
    In the sepulchre there by the sea,
    In her tomb by the sounding sea.
    He is lying down with a corpse at the end.

    I mean I suppose you could read it the way you guys were doing it.
    Last edited by Drkshadow03; 04-07-2009 at 03:32 PM.
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    Sweet farewell, Good Nite
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    A poem that sounds beautiful read aloud. Either way, it's a phenomenal poem, and one of my all-time favs.
    "He was nauseous with regret when he saw her face again, and when, as of yore, he pleaded and begged at her knees for the joy of her being. She understood Neal; she stroked his hair; she knew he was mad."
    ---Jack Kerouac, On The Road: The Original Scroll

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    Card-carrying Medievalist Lokasenna's Avatar
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    Like Poe's El Dorado, I think Annabel Lee is both serious and mocking at the same time. On one level, the emotions of the voice are real and compelling. But then, on another level, you realise that what he is actually proposing is ludicrous.

    I think its part of Poe's charm that different readers will get different senses out of it. And, as always, his use of rhyme and rythm is a joy to experience!
    "I should only believe in a God that would know how to dance. And when I saw my devil, I found him serious, thorough, profound, solemn: he was the spirit of gravity- through him all things fall. Not by wrath, but by laughter, do we slay. Come, let us slay the spirit of gravity!" - Nietzsche

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    Rima rima's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lokasenna View Post
    Like Poe's El Dorado, I think Annabel Lee is both serious and mocking at the same time. On one level, the emotions of the voice are real and compelling. But then, on another level, you realise that what he is actually proposing is ludicrous.

    I think its part of Poe's charm that different readers will get different senses out of it. And, as always, his use of rhyme and rythm is a joy to experience!
    Regardless i had no desire to see his writing to be mocking and ludicrous ,even it could be true,let's try to think of his style in making stories:there are always truly uniquenesses and obsessed by utter shapes of Humans existence.maybe, it is possibly answer to break our dilemmas.
    I write Abstracts&Reviews on favorite Masterpieces.The main theme is quest for grail of eternal Youth.I won old age.
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    stay young,secret grail,self improvement,long live witches,how to stay young,
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    Poe lacked real sense of irony, he was too serious. Now, he was very critical, turning it to sound like lullaby is a key factor indeed. But the guy is really morbid, it is not necrophilia but sense of non-acomplishment. Death of a loved one was in Poe opinion, the most emotive theme for literature ever. The guy wrote for newspaper, he had the sense of appealing to the sensantions. As a poet, he was overly flawed, but when he could hit the jackpot...

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    Registered User kelby_lake's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Drkshadow03 View Post
    Actually I think Annabel Lee is mocking love poetry. He presents the poem as if it were for children, giving a fairytale quality: "It was many and many a year ago,/In a kingdom by the sea," implying that "love poetry" is for incredulous children. The rest of the poem is overdone and sing-song. The guy's love is over the top, bordering on obsession.

    Basically it's a poem about necrophilia:



    He is lying down with a corpse at the end.

    I mean I suppose you could read it the way you guys were doing it.
    Yeah, but it's supposed to be gothic isn't it? I think the childish aspect makes it more sinister- I don't feel that it's supposed to be a funny poem.

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    something witty blackbird_9's Avatar
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    I'm more inclined to take the perspective that he was being a bit shrewd and sarcastic. This isn't any discredit to the poem, mind you; it's actually one of my favorites. I just think it's clear that he's commenting on the idealistic, naive, and obsessive nature of young love. You know, where you think your boo is the end all be all of life. (Did I just say boo? Someone slap me.) The fairytale voice, Annabel's sheer fragility, and the fact that the narrator thinks the friggin angels of heaven are jealous of their love contest for this. I just can't imagine Poe writing that with the intent of being 100% serious. He writes it in such a way that half way through you've got a half smile on your face . It's beautifully written while simultaneously being a little tongue-in-cheek.
    Last edited by blackbird_9; 05-04-2009 at 07:47 PM.

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