I was a child and she was a child (7).This quote stands for young love. Annabel Lee, a sorrowful poem by Edgar Allan Poe tells the story of two lovers who are torn apart. This tragedy is the doing of envious angels. Poe uses many literary devices, specifically metaphors, personification and situational irony to show a mystical and sad mood.
First, Poe uses the literary device of metaphors to create a mystical and sad mood. He writes The moon never beams without bringing me dreams/ of the beautiful Annabel Lee (34-35). This means every night while he rests, he dreams about Annabel Lee. This quote was meant to allow the reader to have a change in mood and be able to feel the narrators passion for his true love. The author again explains this pure emotion, That the wind came out of the cloud by night/ chilling and killing my Annabel Lee (25-26). Poe is telling us that her life was taken unfairly and that the heavens were against them and dramatizes the unhappy mood. Without metaphors I think it would be hard to display the mood creatively.
Next, Poe uses personification to illuminate the setting. The narrator continuously talks about a kingdom by the sea which highlights the mystical part of the mood. But Poe also talks about how uninviting Annabels world was. A wind blew out of the cloud, chilling/ my beautiful Annabel Lee (15-16). This is informing the reader how cold Annabel Lees world is; like that wind is blown intentionally just to chill her. Not only is it cold and chilly by the sea, it is also drifting into twilight when the stars shine brightly but Annabel Lees eyes shine brighter. And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes/ of the beautiful Annabel Lee (36-37). Poe wrights this adding to the sorrowful mood meaning Annabel Lees eyes shout out at him during the night as if the stars are her eyes. The narrator truly misses her, and helps describe this feeling using personification.
For the third main literary device, Poe intertwines situational irony into his story. In the poem the angels were envious of the narrator and Annabel Lees love. The angels not so happy in heaven/ went envying her and me (21-22). This brings the mood to suspense and leaves the reader wondering why angels would ever be jealous. Well the angels were not only jealous, they were corrupt. They did a horrible wrong to Annabel Lee. They killed her using the elements of the earth and putting all odds against her. This is ironic because angels are supposed to be heavenly, not murderous. This brought the poem and mood to a climax. Situational irony was a key event in this poem.
In this poem, Poe establishes a sorrowful but passionate mood to show that young love is pure and things are not always as they are expected to be. He does this using three literary devices, metaphors, personification, and situational irony. People should remember this because whether it is a dark alley or a bright flower field, danger is bound to be somewhere.
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