0:02 hey there i'm carrie and in this video
0:03 i'm going to be talking about
0:06 annabelle lee a poem by edgar allan poe
0:08 that was published in 1849
0:10 so the way i'm going to do this is i'll
0:12 read through the full poem first because
0:13 it's not very long so if you just need
0:15 to listen to it for class that'll be
0:16 right up front
0:17 and then i'm going to go back and go
0:19 verse by verse and break it down
0:22 do some kind of analysis type of stuff
0:23 i'll have time stamps in the video notes
0:25 so definitely scroll down click around
0:27 find exactly what it is you need
0:29 and if you're looking for more specific
0:31 information on edgar allan poe himself
0:33 i've done a separate video on that and
0:34 i'll link that in the video notes as well
0:35 well
0:37 alright without further ado let's get
0:39 into annabelle lee
0:41 it was many and many a year ago in a
0:43 kingdom by the sea
0:45 that a maiden there lived whom you may
0:46 know by the name of annabel
0:49 lee and this maiden she lived with no
0:50 other thought than to love and be loved by
0:51 by
0:54 me i was a child and she was a child in
0:56 this kingdom by the sea
0:58 but we loved with a love that was more
0:59 than love i
1:01 and my annabel lee with the love that
1:04 the winged seraphs of heaven coveted her
1:05 and me
1:08 and this was the reason that long ago in
1:10 this kingdom by the sea
1:12 a wind blew out of a cloud chilling my
1:14 beautiful annabelle lee
1:16 so that her highborn kinsmen came and
1:17 bore her away from me
1:19 to shut her up in a sepulcher in this
1:22 kingdom by the sea
1:24 the angels not half so happy in heaven
1:26 when envying her in me
1:28 yes that was the reason as all men know
1:30 in this kingdom by the sea
1:32 that the wind came out of the cloud by
1:34 night chilling and killing my annabelle lee
1:36 lee
1:38 but our love it was stronger by far than
1:40 the love of those who were older than we
1:43 of many far wiser than we and neither
1:44 the angels in heaven above nor the
1:46 demons down under the sea can ever
1:48 desever my soul from the soul of the
1:50 beautiful annabel lee
1:52 for the moon never beams without
1:53 bringing me dreams of the beautiful
1:55 annabelle lee
1:57 and the stars never rise but i feel the
1:58 bright eyes of the beautiful annabelle lee
1:59 lee
2:02 and so all the night tight i lie down by
2:03 the side of my darling
2:06 my darling my life and my bride in her
2:08 sepulcher there by the sea
2:11 in her tomb by the sounding sea
2:13 and that's it see told you wasn't very
2:15 long so now what i'm gonna do is i'm
2:16 gonna go back
2:18 to the beginning and go through it one
2:21 verse at a time there are six verses
2:24 so as i said this was published in 1849
2:25 it was actually published after poe's
2:27 death he had already passed away
2:30 but this is one of several poems about
2:30 grief um
2:34 specifically about losing a woman the
2:36 love of a person's life
2:39 and probably written in light of his
2:41 wife's death now also i want you to
2:44 remember that poe was very active in the gothic
2:45 gothic
2:47 and dark romance genres and you will see
2:49 both of those kind of come
2:51 come into this poem and influence the
2:53 narrative a little bit
2:54 so let's start at the beginning verse one
2:56 one
2:58 it was many in many a year ago in a
3:00 kingdom by the sea that a maiden there lived
3:00 lived
3:03 okay so gothic like i said so gothic is not
3:04 not
3:06 how we think of gothic today gothic
3:08 actually uh means it pertains to the
3:10 middle ages think
3:12 gothic architecture like the big
3:14 dramatic cathedrals and fortresses and
3:16 castles and things like that
3:19 so gothic fiction um usually
3:21 incorporates things like
3:23 kings and queens and knights and shining
3:25 armor and
3:28 fair maidens in ivory towers and things
3:29 like that so
3:31 we see some of those things here we've
3:32 got uh
3:34 in a kingdom by the sea there's a maiden
3:36 a beautiful young woman
3:38 who is going to be set upon by a dark
3:40 force so we've got the gothic
3:44 uh gothic influence in there um also
3:46 look at the very first line we say many
3:48 and many a year ago so we
3:51 know that this happened long in the past
3:52 for the speaker he's recounting
3:54 something that was a long time ago
3:58 okay verse two i was a child and she was
4:00 a child in this kingdom by the sea so
4:02 maybe this is some kind of uh childhood
4:04 sweetheart that he's talking about
4:06 uh we loved with a love that was more
4:08 than love so it doesn't matter that
4:08 we're young
4:10 and inexperienced it's pure and it's
4:12 powerful and it's love
4:15 i love that the winged seraphs of heaven coveted
4:16 coveted
4:19 now a seraph is an angel uh they're from
4:19 the bible
4:22 so actually serifs are only mentioned a
4:23 couple times in the bible and they're not
4:24 not
4:26 that big a deal but remember this is
4:28 gothic it relates to the middle ages and
4:30 in the middle ages
4:33 there was very in-depth complex belief
4:34 systems surrounding angels
4:36 and serifs were thought to be some of
4:38 the most powerful angels
4:40 um they were pure they were strong they
4:42 were fiery and they weren't like
4:45 chilling in heaven with their robes
4:47 playing their harps they had
4:49 things to do they were on missions you
4:51 know in heaven and on the earth so the serifs
4:52 serifs
4:55 serifs are extremely powerful uh so we
4:56 got the serifs of heaven
4:59 coveted her and me now the word covet a
5:01 lot of people use it to mean
5:02 jealous but it's actually stronger than
5:04 that it's kind of like
5:07 jealousy meets greed like you see something
5:07 something
5:10 and you want it um you're going to do whatever
5:11 whatever
5:13 it takes to get it no matter who that
5:15 thing actually belongs to whether or not
5:16 you've got the right
5:19 to take it you're going to do it so he's
5:19 saying that
5:22 our love was so strong and pure and
5:24 powerful that the angels themselves were jealous
5:25 jealous
5:27 and wanted it for themselves like if
5:29 that kind of love and devotion is not
5:30 going to be directed at
5:33 us the angels then it's not going to be
5:34 directed to anyone we're going to
5:37 shut this party down right now verse three
5:38 three
5:40 uh this was the reason the the covetousness
5:41 covetousness
5:43 uh this was the reason long ago in this
5:45 kingdom by the sea a wind blew out of a cloud
5:46 cloud
5:48 chilling my beautiful annabel lee so it
5:50 sounds like annabelle lee got sick she
5:52 died of some kind of
5:55 disease um so
5:58 the fact that he says a wind blew out of
5:58 the cloud
6:00 rather than saying something like the
6:02 cold blew out or the rain
6:04 or the scorching sun or something like
6:05 that he says
6:08 a wind i wonder um i think you could
6:10 make a case that this
6:12 is a reference to a respiratory disease
6:13 uh poe's
6:15 wife and his mother both died of
6:17 tuberculosis which is a lung infection
6:20 it's a lung disease so the fact that you know
6:21 know
6:23 the air in your lungs the wind is the
6:25 force of the air moving around you
6:27 i think you could kind of make a case
6:29 for that that um the fact that it's the wind
6:30 wind
6:32 that comes down and kills her this could
6:33 be some kind of
6:36 respiratory illness um let's see we've
6:38 got the word chilling my beautiful
6:39 annabel lee
6:40 so chilling could mean a couple of
6:42 different things here first there's
6:44 obviously the literal like oh the wind's
6:46 blowing i'm chilly
6:48 um also the chills are a symptom of a fever
6:49 fever
6:51 symptom of an infection i don't know the
6:53 science behind this but i do know
6:54 that like when you've got a fever like
6:56 your body temperature goes up but you feel
6:56 feel
6:58 colder for some reason you get the
7:00 chills so that could be a reference to a fever
7:00 fever
7:02 it could also just be a reference to
7:04 death itself
7:07 she's chilled because the warmth the
7:09 warmth of her body is leaving her she's
7:10 dying and her body
7:14 is getting cold her highborn
7:16 kinsmen came so we've got another
7:18 reference to the gothic genre here we've
7:18 got some
7:21 nobles some aristocrats coming in
7:22 highborn means
7:25 aristocratic like socially above the
7:28 fact that the narrator
7:30 notes that annabelle lee's family is highborn
7:31 highborn
7:34 kind of makes me think he probably isn't
7:37 she is probably socially superior to him
7:39 and maybe this is some kind of forbidden
7:41 romance maybe this is a relationship
7:43 that was not supposed to happen
7:45 kinsmen means relative so this is
7:47 probably her father and brothers coming
7:49 to transport her body for burial
7:52 and let's see her kinsmen came and bore
7:54 her away from me so they separated us
7:56 again that could be that could be an
7:58 implication that this is
8:01 some kind of forbidden relationship um
8:03 because he's talking about like
8:04 they're taking her away they're
8:06 splitting us up
8:08 uh shut her up in a sepulcher in this
8:10 kingdom by the sea
8:12 a sepulcher is a tomb or a mausoleum
8:14 it's a burial place
8:17 verse four the angels not half so happy
8:19 in heaven so this is kind of a repeat of
8:20 the second verse
8:22 um he's repeating that the angels the
8:24 seraphs were jealous
8:27 and uh that they killed her on purpose
8:29 um and he's saying like he's very
8:30 he's getting dramatic about it he's like
8:33 everybody knows it everybody knows
8:34 that's what happened is that they just
8:36 wanted to take her away from me
8:38 let's get into verse five our love it
8:40 was stronger by far than the love of
8:41 those who were
8:44 older than we of many far wiser than we
8:47 so he's going like full romeo and juliet
8:48 here he's like
8:50 yes we're young and inexperienced but
8:52 our love is more powerful and more pure than
8:53 than
8:56 any of you can understand and neither
8:57 the angels in heaven above
9:00 nor the demons down under the sea this
9:02 is dark romance that's a romance with
9:04 supernatural elements so he's already
9:05 mentioned the angels several times now
9:08 we've got the demons coming in uh this
9:09 is the first time first and only time he
9:11 mentions demons
9:12 and he says that they're down under the
9:15 sea um i don't think he's referring to
9:17 like ocean monsters i think it's just
9:19 because she is buried by the sea
9:21 that's annabelle lee's burial spot and so
9:23 so
9:24 the sea reminds him of her death he
9:26 doesn't have any positive connotations
9:28 with the sea so i think that's why he
9:31 associates the sea with demons neither
9:32 the angels in heaven above nor the
9:34 demons down under the sea
9:36 can ever disever my soul from the soul
9:38 of the beautiful annabel lee
9:41 so what he's saying is here um your plan
9:42 didn't work
9:45 our souls are still bonded together and
9:46 you know you didn't you didn't succeed
9:48 we are still together
9:50 the word dissever means to split two
9:51 things apart
9:53 it literally means the same thing as
9:56 sever dis ever and sever
9:59 mean the same thing i don't know why all
10:00 right verse six
10:02 for the moon never beams without
10:03 bringing me dreams of the beautiful
10:05 annabel lee and the stars never rise but
10:07 i feel the bright eyes of the beautiful
10:08 annabelle lee
10:11 so um if you remember back in the first
10:12 verse who says
10:13 it was many and many a year ago so this
10:16 happened a long time ago
10:18 but the narrator the speaker has never
10:20 forgotten her he is still
10:23 thinking of her all these years later uh
10:24 moon and star so this is at night so
10:26 maybe he has other obligations during
10:27 the day maybe he
10:31 even is married with a family but uh
10:33 she is the one that still has his heart
10:35 he still dreams of her he still
10:38 thinks of her and so all the night tied
10:41 nighttime just means nighttime i lie
10:43 down by the side of my darling so he
10:44 sleeps by her tomb
10:47 there by the sea and her sepulcher there
10:48 by the sea
10:50 again sepulcher is his burial place in
10:51 her in her tomb
10:54 by the sounding c um now i looked it up
10:55 and apparently
10:58 sounding is not original to the poem
11:00 apparently poe originally wrote in her
11:02 tomb by the side of the c
11:04 which makes perfect sense and i don't
11:06 know why people would have changed it
11:09 but you do usually see sounding now
11:11 sounding has a couple different meanings
11:12 it has its literal meaning like
11:14 something that makes noise like if you
11:16 say i'm gonna sound off about this i'm
11:18 gonna talk about it i'll make some noise
11:21 um sounding is also a nautical term it's
11:23 a technique for measuring the depth of water
11:24 water
11:27 so i mean i yeah it's poetic i i get why
11:29 it's in there i just
11:31 i think they could have left it alone personally
11:32 personally
11:34 all right that's about all i've got on
11:35 annabel lee i hope you found some of
11:37 that helpful if you did definitely
11:38 please like and subscribe so you can next
11:39 next
11:41 know when the next story or poem becomes
11:43 available if you had a different author
11:45 or story that you're interested in
11:46 definitely drop that in the comments and
11:47 i'll see what i can do
11:49 and yeah best of luck to you and i'll
Chrome Extension