Annabel Lee

The death of a beautiful woman is 'the most poetical topic in the world' [Edgar Allan Poe].

Annabel Lee

IT was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love,
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
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 Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
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 Annabel Lee:

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

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Monen monituista vuotta sitten,
Kuningaskunnassa meren äärellä,
Asui neito, jonka saatat tuntea
Nimellä Annabel Lee;
Eikä tämä neito muuta ajatellutkaan
Kuin olla rakastettuni ja rakastaa.

Minä olin lapsi ja hän oli lapsi,
Tässä kuningaskunnassa meren äärellä:
Mutta meidän rakkautemme oli enemmän kuin rakkautta –
Minun ja Annabel Leeni;
Rakkautta, jonka vuoksi taivaan siivekkäät serafit
Kadehtivat häntä ja minua.

Ja siksi, kauan sitten,
Tässä kuningaskunnassa meren äärellä,
Tuuli puhalsi pilvestä kylmettäen
Kauniin Annabel Leeni;
Joten hänen jalosukuiset heimolaisensa saapuivat
Ja kantoivat hänet pois luotani,
Sulkeakseen hänet hautakammioon
Tässä kuningaskunnassa meren äärellä.

Enkelit, jotka eivät olleet puoliksikaan yhtä iloisia taivaassa,
Alkoivat kadehtia häntä ja minua –
Kyllä! – se oli syynä (kuten kaikki tietävät,
Tässä kuningaskunnassa meren äärellä)
Siihen, että öinen tuuli kävi pilvestä
Kylmettäen ja tappaen Annabel Leeni.

Mutta rakkautemme oli vielä voimakkaampi kuin
Niiden rakkaus, jotka olivat meitä vanhempia –
Niiden rakkaus, jotka olivat meitä paljon viisaampia –
Eivätkä ylisen taivaan enkelit
Eivätkä merenalaiset demonit,
Voi koskaan erottaa sieluani
Kauniin Annabel Leen sielusta.

Sillä kuu ei koskaan säteile tuomatta minulle unia
Kauniista Annabel Leestä;
Eivätkä tähdet koskaan nouse minun näkemättä
Kauniin Annabel Leen kirkkaita silmiä;
Ja niinpä makaan kaikki yöni
Rakastettuni rinnalla, rakastettuni, elämäni ja morsiameni,
Hänen hautakammiossaan meren äärellä –
Hänen hautaholvissaan pauhaavan meren äärellä.

Suomentanut Matti Järvinen

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4bb_6MmgZo
A video interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe's Annabel Lee.

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'Annabel Lee' is the last complete poem composed by American author Edgar Allan Poe. Like many of Poe's poems, it explores the theme of the death of a beautiful woman. The narrator, who fell in love with Annabel Lee when they were young, has a love for her so strong that even angels are jealous. He retains his love for her even after her death. There has been debate over who, if anyone, was the inspiration for "Annabel Lee". Though many women have been suggested, Poe's wife Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe is one of the more credible candidates. Written in 1849, it was not published until shortly after Poe's death that same year.
*
Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe (née Clemm; August 15, 1822 – January 30, 1847) was the wife of American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The couple were first cousins and married when Virginia Clemm was 13 and Poe was 27. Some biographers have suggested that the couple's relationship was more like that between brother and sister than like husband and wife in that they might have never consummated their marriage. In January 1842 she contracted tuberculosis and died of the disease in January 1847 at the age of 24 in the family's cottage outside New York City.
*
Like many other Poe poems including "The Raven", "Ulalume", and "To One in Paradise", "Annabel Lee" follows Poe's favorite theme: the death of a beautiful woman, which Poe called "the most poetical topic in the world". Also like women in many other works by Poe, she is struck with illness and marries young. The poem focuses on an ideal love which is unusually strong. In fact, the narrator's actions show that he not only loves Annabel Lee, but he worships her, something he can only do after her death. The narrator admits that he and Annabel Lee were both children when they fell in love, but his explanation that angels murdered her is in itself childish, suggesting he has not grown up much since then. His repetition of this assertion suggests he is trying to rationalize his own excessive feelings of loss.

Unlike "The Raven", in which the narrator believes he will "nevermore" be reunited with his love, "Annabel Lee" says the two will be together again, as not even demons "can ever dissever" their souls.

The poem has been described containing 'shades of necrophilia.'
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annabel_Lee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Eliza_Clemm_Poe
http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe
http://www.bartleby.com/102/89.html
http://fi.wikisource.org/wiki/Annabel_Lee
http://thehougefamily.blogspot.com/2010/04/annabell-lee.html