Annabel Lee Analysis

In Edgar Allen Poe’s Annabel Lee, the narrator seems to be left in a dreary, somnolent state longing for the love of his life who has passed away, the beautiful Annabel Lee. As the narrator grieves, it becomes obvious that he has not yet dealt with all of the anger he has pent up against society. He is so quick to lash out at them because he believes that they have stolen away his young bride and that they have forbidden their love.
In line 7, the narrator feels that he has to explain himself for the young love that he shared with Annabel Lee in saying, “She was a child and I was a child…” In this, what seems to be a Gothic era, it is common for elders to look down upon young love because it was only recently becoming accepted in culture. The narrator felt the judgmental gazes of those older than he was when he and Annabel fell in love. He continued to overcome it every day as their love grew stronger and stronger, and he could better defend their proscribed love.
Another example of this young and forbidden love is shown in line 17 where Annabel Lee’s “highborn kinsmen came and bore her away from [the narrator],” as to show that they are of higher power than he is. The kinsmen subject themselves as an upper-class with more authority than the narrator, which conclusively rids him of
To prove this, he reads “But our love it was stronger by far than the love of those who were older than we [and] of many far wiser than we…” It was a love that is fuller and more eternal to him than any love that he had seen. Specifically, it was a greater love than of those who belittled it and ultimately diminished his other half, his Annabel Lee. Even then, they still could never dissever his soul from her, for everything in his life would bring him dreams and visions of his darling, young bride, and she would eternally be by his