When Edgar Allan Poe made plans to write new material in the spring of 1849, he had no way of knowing that “Annabel Lee” would end up as one of his final poems. In May of 1849, Rufus Griswold had offered Poe the opportunity to “contribute some new poems to
Poets and Poetry of America, soon to appear in its tenth edition”, so he sent “Lenore”, “For Annie”, and “Annabel Lee” for consideration (Silverman 412). Poe’s unexplained death on October 7, 1849 cast the reception and criticism of “Annabel Lee” into an entirely new light; was Poe truly a literary genius, or an immature hack whose works spoke to the uneducated and untutored, and are thus not worthy of literary readers of good breeding? This argument has raged for well over a century and a half. “Annabel…
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Citation: McQuillan, Jennifer . "Annabel Lee". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 August 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6587, accessed 25 November 2024.]
