I discovered this poem when I was in high school. My english teacher, Mr. Mollgaard, read it to us. Mr. Mollgaard was "that" teacher, you know the one....the one you couldn't stand in high school, but then years later you look back and realize you wouldn't be who you are today without the influence of that teacher.

Anyway, in Literature class, Mr. Mollgaard had us read the works of Edgar Allan Poe. I loved Poe's stories, but never realized, until this high school class, that he wrote poems as well. One day Mr. Mollgaard read us Annabel Lee and I loved it so much that in the last eighteen years it has always been my favorite poem.

Annabel Lee is a poem about two young people very much in love, with a relationship and a bond beyond their years. But Annabel becomes sick and dies and her husband blames it on "the angels" jealousy. This poem pledges his undying love for her.

Annabel Lee

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 in 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 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 the sepulcher there by the sea--
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

--Edgar Allan Poe

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