The Raven And Annabel Lee Comparison

Edgar Allan Poe is a famous poet whom everyone has heard of and is also one of my favorites. Two of my favorite poems from Poe have to be Annabel Lee and The Raven. There are several similarities between these poems.

In both poems, they speak of a woman that has long since passed away. The speakers are depressed by the loss of their loved one. For example, in The Raven, the speaker says “from my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore” (638). The speakers in both poems seem almost of their lost loves. In Annabel Lee, the speaker says that nothing “can ever dissever my soul from the soul of the beautiful Annabel Lee” (643). I took this as his way of saying he would never let go of his love, even in death.

Though those two speakers are similar in mourning, the tone in the poems differ. In The Raven, the tone of the poem comes off as scary and ominous. The way Poe uses alliteration, rhyme, and repetition creates the eerie tone. In the beginning line of the poem, the speaker says, “once upon a midnight dreary” (637). Right off the bat one feels unsettled. This is due to the time of night during which this poem takes place. This feeling suddenly changes to fear when there is a “tapping at my chamber door” (638). It is eerie that someone would be visiting him so late at night. Given the other poems written by Poe, one cannot help but feel dread as the man goes to answer the door.

The love the speaker has for Annabel is very apparent in the poem. He says that “we loved with a love that was more than love” (643). Meaning that there love was than just physical and mental; it was also spiritual and not an ordinary love felt by other lovers. It shows the deep, emotional attachment he had to Annabel. Even in death, he held a strong attachment to his beloved. “Our love was stronger by far that the love of those who were older than we—of many far wiser than we—”