I recentley had a stroke and I am in the hospital wiht a final paper due in one week. I need to do an explication of Annabel Lee and I need some help. I don't have good memory and I have lost some memory. my speech therapist is trying to help me. Please send me any information on what kind of thesis could you start with on this poem. Thanks

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

Answers

Baudelaire said "I reserve the right to contradict myself". However I don't need to do so publicly so I e-mailed a brief critique of the poem privately lest it conflict with an earlier post on the same subject.

Read and reread aloud the poem several times. Think of the rhythm of the shore on the waves, the relentless keening of grief, the flash of rebellion, the repetition of "my darling" and enter into the mood the poet is trying to embody. The wind, the waves, the cold night, the stars. Then listen to the words more closely. The tradition of an old, shared ballad, more the melancholy of the common man and full of pointed protests to highlight such. the repetition, assonance, alliteration all work to the same wavelike effect. So study other poems about sea and shore, night and stars and you will find some of the same emotions: melancholia, fear, protest, a tinge of primordial horror at the boundaries of existence, the beauty of beacons of hope(stars-eyes).

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001