Human Mortality in Annabel Lee
Annabel Lee is a poem by Edgar Allan Poe that reflects the effect of ones death on his or her lover. From the poem, it is easy to deduct that the speaker in the poem is suffering a lot because of his long dead lover. The poem implies that their relationship started from their teenage years, although Annabel died. The speaker confirms their deep love for each other, despite the fact that they were only children. He indicates this through citing jealousy of angels in heaven who also noticed their glamorous love. Additionally, the speaker in the poem cites the angels jealousy, leading them to kill his lover through a wind that descended the Earth from heaven. The speaker also notes how Annabels relative took her away from him to bury her. It is evident that the speaker in the poem is suffering a lot because of the death of his lover. The speaker reminds readers how strong their love was, which makes him think about his lover from time to time. Such incidences also happen in the current world, whereby people love each other so much that they forget about the reality of death. The speaker in the poem depicts the problem associated with attachment to a person that you forget if you can live without them. Research has been conducted on this topic and various emotional issues result because of attachment, especially in the event of death. The identified effects include emotional numbness, anger as a result of death, and peoples fear of death.
Thus, this essay explores the theme of human mortality as depicted in the poem Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe.
Get a Free Price Quote
Death has a significant effect on people left behind. This conclusion comes from the way the speaker in the poem complains about the death of his lover. From the poem, it is evident that the speaker is completely detached from the world because he spends a lot of time reminiscing about his lover who passed away. This seems to be an emotional numbness that resulted because of the departure of the girl that the speaker in the poem talks about. This can be confirmed from the poem through the speakers reference to the girl, as he indicates that neither angels nor demons can take away his soul from that of Annabel Lees. The speaker in the poem further confirms his detachment through confessing how the moon brings his memories of the loved one, how the stars remind him of Annabel Lees eyes, and the fact that he sometimes goes to the tomb of his lover to lie there with her until morning. This is disturbing in nature, considering that the death of Annabel Lee happened while they are still young, and now he is an adult, but still attached to her. It can be concluded that the speaker in the poem is affected by the death of the lover considerably. According to Gomila (43), the cause of death has a significant effect on the lives of people that are mourning. Gomila cites different effects related to death of a loved one, and these include an overwhelming need to sleep, emotional numbness, and the lack of concentration. Emotional numbness is explicated as the lack of clear reason as to what causes the death of the person. This is what promotes the blame game as some people become guilty of the death, while others start blaming other people for the death of the loved person.
The death of a loved one can also lead to provoke anger in a person. This abounds from the fact that a person can become paranoid and start blaming the death on a person. For instance, in the poem, the speaker is so enraged by the death of Annabel Lee that he blames it on the angels. It should be noted that the speaker in the poem points out that the angels were aware of their love and coveted them. According to Poe, the angels hate of the speakers love with Annabel Lee is what motivated them to send winds from heaven and cause Annabel Lee to be sick before coming to kill her eventually. Additionally, it abounds that the speaker in the poem is also mad at Annabel Lees relatives, because they also attempted to take her away from him. From the essay, it seems that the relatives came and buried Annabel Lee, and the speaker confirms this through indicating that he goes to the grave to sleep with Annabel Lee in order to prove to the angels and demons that they cannot separate their souls. Garrison gives credence to the issue of anger after death (45). His research established various deranged behaviors depicted by people after their loved ones died. He confirms that some people choose to indeed become paranoid, and this is motivated by the attachment of the person to the person who died. The paranoia depicted by the grieving people leads them to adopt a variety of behaviors, such as complaining about everything or blaming the death of their loved ones on somebody else. The anger also makes a person become confused and start behaving strangely, such as depicted in the poem by the speaker who sleeps next to dead Annabel Lee.
8 Reasons to choose us:
- 01. Only original papers
- 02. Any difficulty level
- 03. 300 words per page
- 04. BA, MA, and Ph.D writers
- 05. Generous discounts
- 06. On-time delivery
- 07. Direct communication with an assigned writer
- 08. VIP services
Another point associated with death is how people are usually engrossed with the daily activities and the routine of life, that they forget that death is a part of life. What should be noted is that death occurs suddenly and does not inform a person of its occurrence. Additionally, it does not allow people to prepare for it (Barker 53). This is evident from the poem because the speaker is exasperated by the death of his loved one. The speaker is shocked to the point that he starts revealing how angels and demons cannot separate his and Annabel Lees souls. The speaker indicates that the angels were jealous of their love to the point that they had to send wind from heaven in order to kill his loved one. Additionally, the unexpectedness of death can be established from the fact that it found the speaker unaware. Maybe he had not consummated their love, which explains why he goes to sleep with his love in her tomb during some nights. The suddenness of death can also be established from the way the speaker still remembers the eyes and memories between him and Annabel Lee. It is evident that death came suddenly to Annabel Lee, according to the speaker. He confirms that stars and the moon still linger the memory of Annabel Lee to him. The stars remind him of her eyes, while the moon reminds her memories, respectively.
TOP 10 WritersIn conclusion, Edgar Allan Poe was successfully in his depiction of the effects of death in his essay. His success can be seen from the theme that the poem followed. The speaker is complaining and remembering his lover who passed away. It can be deducted that the two lovers in the poem knew each other in their teens, and their relationship flourished until the death of the Annabel Lee. The speaker of the poem confirms of their love that the angels were jealous of, even though he and Annabel were young. It is clear from the poem that the speaker was genuinely in love with Annabel Lee, because he is still grieving because of her death, which occurred many years ago. Thus, various points abound from the poem as the effect of her death. Firstly, it abounds that a mourning person can become detached from the world. This is depicted through the actions of the speaker in the poem who leaves his normal life to keep mourning the loss of Annabel Lee.
Become our VIP clients and enjoy these exclusive BENEFITS:
- 01 Paper delivery before the deadline
- 02 Free 1-page draft to each order
- 03 Extended revision period
- 04 Free plagiarism check
- 05 TOP 10 writers assigned to each order
- 06 Every order proofread by a TOP editor
- 07 VIP Support Service
- 08 SMS notification of the order status
Another effect of death is that a person can become unreasonably angry and blame the death on other people or phenomenon, which actually did not cause the death of the person. The speaker is busy blaming the death of his girl on the angels, indicating that they sent winds from heaven, which came and made Annabel sick, and then killing her eventually. Finally, it is indicated that people do fear death. This abounds from it taking away their loved ones and making people reach the end of their life prematurely. In my opinion, people should lead their lives in a way indicated by the Bible. This abounds from the fact that the Bible needs people to embrace death and not fret about it, because it reflects the beginning of a new life for the person who dies. The poem is actually a worthy read, because people can be reminded about aspects of death through the poem. The author was successful in passing his message regarding death across the poem, as he reveals the desperateness of the speaker in the poem.
