English Poetry III: From Tennyson to Whitman.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
Edgar Allan Poe
761. Annabel Lee
I
In a kingdom by the sea
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of A
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my A
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful A
So that her high-born kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
Went envying her and me—
Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my A
Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful A
Of the beautiful A
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful A
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.