Student Question
What is the point of view in the poem "Annabel Lee"?
Quick answer:
The poem "Annabel Lee" is written in the first-person point of view. The speaker refers to himself using pronouns like "I" and "we," indicating his direct involvement in the narrative. This perspective allows the speaker to express his deep love and enduring connection to Annabel Lee, despite her death, highlighting the personal and emotional nature of the poem's themes of love and loss.
"Annabel Lee" is written in the first person. Poe refers to himself, and to himself as part of the couple. "We loved with a love..." etc. When the author refers to himself or herself in writing as "me", "I", "we" etc., the work is in first person. If he had talked about Annabel Lee and her lover as "they", that would be third person--the author would have removed himself from participation in the poem.
What is the poem "Annabel Lee" about?
This poem written by Edgar Allan Poe is a tale of love shared by two children "many and many a year ago,/In a kingdom by the sea". In it, the speaker is telling of his one true love, Annabel Lee, who dies because the angels in heaven are jealous of their love. The angels send a cold wind that causes Annabel Lee's death, but they are still jealous of the couple's love because not even death can separate them; their souls will be forever joined. The speaker spends his nights "by the sea" remembering her, the stars reminding him of her sparkling eyes.
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