annabelllee全英解说

Setting The narrator (persona) writes about a fictional kingdom along the ocean shore. It is an idyllic, beautiful, land of enchantment–a paradise on earth–where he and Annabel Lee fell in love as adolescents. One can imagine that they strolled the beaches, hand in hand, in gentle breezes while the sun went down and the tide rushed in. This kingdom, where love ruled their hearts, remains dear to the memory of the poet after Annabel Lee dies, for his soul remains united with hers.
ANNABEL LEE is commonly thought to refer to Poe’s deceased wife. Its mood is that of serene acceptance. love here is associated not with the usual embodies of rose or music, but with the elemental and eternal rhythms of the moon and stars. In it Poe strives to create a vision of beauty and a melodious sound strong enough to block out the ugly world he hates and fears. Characters Narrator (persona): A man of deep sensibility who extolls a young maiden with whom he fell deeply in love. Annabel Lee: Beautiful young maiden loved by the poet. She was of noble birth, as Line 17 of Stanza 1 suggests when it says she had “highborn”relatives. Annabel Lee probably represents Poe's wife, who died at a young age. Seraphs: Members of the highest order of angels around the throne of God. According to the Bible, they each had three pairs of wings. In the poem, the seraphs are so envious of the love between the narrator and Annabel Lee that they cause Annabel’s death. Relative of Annabel Lee: A “highborn kinsman”(Line 17, Stanza 1) who carries away and entombs her body.
Familiar Motif: Romeo and Juliet Like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the narrator and Annabel Lee are both very young when they fall deeply in love.
In addition, like Shakespeare’s “star-crossed”lovers, Poe’s lovers become victims of forces beyond their control. Finally, the narrator and Annabel Lee–like Romeo and Juliet–experience a love beyond the understanding of older persons. (See the opening lines of the second stanza.)
The Real Annabel Lee The model for Annabel Lee was probably Poe’s wife, Virginia Clemm, whom he married when she was only 13. Their marriage was a very happy one. Unfortunately, she died of tuberculosis in January 1847 when she was still in her twenties. Poe died two years and nine months later –on October 7, 1849. “Annabel Lee”was his last poem.
Rhyme, Rhythm, Repetition: Poe uses three R’s–rhyme, rhythm, and repetition–in “Annabel Lee”to create a harmony of sounds that underscore the exquisite harmony of the narrator’s relationship with his beloved.
Theme Eternal love. The love between the narrator and Annabel Lee is so strong and beautiful and pure that even the seraphs, the highest order of angels in heaven, envy it. They attempt to kill this love by sending a chilling wind that kills Annabel Lee. However, the love remains alive–eternal–because the souls of the lovers remain united. The death of a beautiful woman is a common theme in Poe’s writing.
Poe repeats this rhythmic pattern throughout the poem, perhaps to suggest the rise and fall of the tides. He also repeats key phrases–such as in this kingdom by the sea and my Annabel Lee (or my beautiful Annabel Lee)–to create haunting refrains. In addition, Poe sometimes repeats words or word patterns within a single line, as in (1) many and many a year ago, (2) we loved with a love that was more than love, and (3) my darling–my darling. Poe further enhances the rhythm of the poem with the repetition of consonant sounds (alliteration). Notice, for example, the repetition of the “w”and “l”sounds in this line in Stanza 2: But we loved with a love that was more than love." Poe sometimes couples repetition of consonant sounds with repetition of vowel sounds, as in many and many, love and be loved, and those who were older than we.
Word Choice:Poe carefully chose the words of the poem to evoke a dreamland or fairytale atmosphere. It was many and many a year ago, for example, echoes the traditional fairytale opening of once upon a time. The words kingdom, maiden, and child then lead the reader into the never-never land, with kingdom suggesting chivalry and romance, maiden suggesting innocence, and child suggesting the wonderment of youth. Although he first uses sepulchre(Stanza 3) to refer to Annabel Lee's burial chamber–then repeats it in the seventh line of Stanza 6–he uses tomb in the last line of the poem to refer to her resting place. Tomb has a more ominous connotation, suggesting finality. It also has a more deathly ring, like the cavernous toll of a funeral bell.
Imagery–Darkness and Light: Implied and explicit images of darkness and light occur throughout the poem. Poe implies that the kingdom by the sea is a bright, cheerful place where the sun shines on two young lovers, the narrator and Annabel Lee. Ironically, in another realm of dazzling light–heaven–the highest order of angels, the Seraphim, grow dark with envy of the young couple. Under cover of night, they send a cold wind that kills Annabel Lee: "The wind came out of the cloud by night, / Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee." But the narrator says he remains in a realm of light, for his soul and the soul of Annabel Lee are one. In the last stanza, Poe emphasizes this point with light imagery
Poe’s Artistic theories
•Poems should be short, concise and readable at one sitting;
•The aim of poem writing is beauty; the most beautiful thing described by a poem is the death of a beautiful woman; the desirable tone of a poem is melancholy;
•He opposed didactic poems;
•He stressed the form of poem, especially the beautiful and neat rhyme.
His View and Theme
•1) He concludes that “the death of a beautiful
woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical
topic in the world”.
•2) Melancholy is the most legitimate of all the
poetic tones.
•3) He was interested in imagination and fancy as
well as deduction and induction.
First Stanza
•Notice the recurrence of "m" and "n" sounds (alliteration).
Second Stanza
•Coveted: envied, resented
Third Stanza
•this was the reason: the seraphs' envy
•long ago: these words echo many a year ago in Line 1, Stanza 1.
• a cloud: Using these words instead of the sky infuses foreboding and gloom while symbolizing the dark envy of the seraphs.
•selpulchre: British spelling of sepulcher. Britain, of course, has always had a monarchy, the type of government that would rule in a "kingdom by the sea Fourth stanza
•out of a cloud by night: Use of this phrase emphasizes the dark envy of the angels and their sneaky scheme (which unfolds under the cover of night).
•chilling and killing: an example of internal rhyme
Fifth Stanza
•The narrator here focuses on three worlds: (1) earth, the realm of humans; (2) heaven, the realm of angels; and (3) hell, the realm of demons. The love
between him and Annabel is stronger than any other earthly love and can survive the sinister efforts of the angels and the demons to sabotage蓄意破坏it.
•ever, dissever: internal rhyme
Sixth Stanza
•Poe stresses imagery of light in this stanza, associating moonbeams with dreams about his beloved and the radiance of stars with her eyes. In the sixth line, he uses a figure of speech called anaphora首语重复法when he writes the word my four times.。