Example Of Annabel Lee Thesis Statement
Type of paper: Thesis Statement
Topic: Angel, Annabel Lee, Love, Children, Literature, Poetry, Poem, Beloved
Pages: 1
Words: 275
Published: 2020/11/21
One of the main themes of Edgar Alan Poe’s poetry is a topic of sorrow and despair caused by the death of his beloved, which usually grows into a theme of hopelessness of human existence.
In Annabel Lee the narrator recalls his love to Annabel Lee, which began a long time ago in a certain “kingdom by the sea”. Despite the fact that they were very young, their love for each other flared up with such a power that it made the angels envy of such a flame of love. This explains the death of the narrator’s beloved – the angels are to blame. At the end of the poem the narrator describes himself lying in a tomb side by side with Annabel Lee that all together, in my opinion, suggests his insanity.
First of all, the idea that angels killed Annabel Lee because of jealousy indicates that the narrator himself still remains in childish illusions and does not want to mature. To his mind this is the only explanation of her death, he repeats it several times throughout the poem that once again demonstrates the severity of the loss and the depth of his feelings: “[] the winged seraphs of heaven/ Coveted her and me”, “[] 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.”
The reason of such an assumption may be referred to the narrator’s childhood, as the poem reads: “I was a child and she was a child”. When his friend and beloved Annabel Lee had died, his or her parents or relatives explained to a little boy that his girlfriend was taken away by the angels to the heaven, in order not to cripple the child's psyche. And now as a grown up man, the narrator still sticks to the idea that the angels are guilty.
Also, the narrator considers the angels to be Annabel’s relatives, as he writes: “A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling/ My beautiful Annabel Lee;/ So that her highborn kinsman came/ And bore her away from me.”
On the other hand, it may be easier for the author to think, that the angels were jealous of her beautiful appearance. As there are a lot of myths and legends, especially Greek and Roman, that tell us about the constant confrontation between gods and mortal men. The first always interfered with the lives of the last, made mischiefs, harm and sent curses. The myth about Io can serve as an example. Zeus turned Io into a heifer (cow), as they had an affair and he wanted in such a way to protect her from his jealous wife Hera.
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