TRAGIC LOVE

You have probably heard of the saying “love conquers all”. You may see this famous saying in a different light after reading this poem by a famous poet who was able to weave beautiful masterpieces especially when drunk.

ANNABEL LEE
(Edgar Allan Poe)

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived, whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love, and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love,
I and my Annabel Lee,––
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her high-born kinsmen came,
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulcher,
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me.
Yes! That was the reason (as all men know)
In this kingdom by the sea,
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.


But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we,
Of many far wiser than we;
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee,
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
And so, all the night-tide
I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In her sepulcher there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
What a tragic love story indeed. In this poem, although the lovers can no longer be physically together, their love for each other had remained strong. Why do some love stories end this way? Here are some of the possible causes. A frequent cause is jealousy. In fact, the poem mentioned of jealousy in the following lines:

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me.
Yes! That was the reason (as all men know)
In this kingdom by the sea,
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But in my understanding, the jealousy of angels as the cause of the lovers’ separation is not true. The other common reason why love stories end tragically is because the family of one or the other disapproves of the relationship. This is the most likely reason why the lovers in this poem were separated, based on these lines,

So that her high-born kinsmen came,
And bore her away from me,

Whatever the reason for a lovers’ break-up, love could indeed conquer all so that some love stories even end up happily ever after. In this poem though, the love story ended in the death of the girl. However, even in death his love for Annabel Lee never waned:

But our love it was stronger by far than the love…
…And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

…And so, all the night-tide
I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In her sepulcher there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.