Annabel Lee

I never really read much poetry but I definitely enjoyed the poetry section of this course. I truly enjoyed Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe. I read in his biography that he lost many family members. In 1836 he married his 13 year cousin Virginia Clemm, she busted a blood vessel in 1842 and died five years later of tuberculosis. After his wife death he struggled with drinking and drugs. He did eventually remarry but I believe his love was still with Virginia. He wrote the poem Annabel Lee in 1849 and dedicated to Virginia. When the cemetery where she was buried was destroyed, William Fearing Gill, one of Poe's earliest biographers, rescued her remains and stored them in New York in a box under his bed. Edgar Allan Poe died in 1849 and William Fearing made arrangements to have her remains buried with Poe. Her remains were finally reburied in 1885 next to her husband.

Submitted by Sally LaFond