I have never been a fan of Edgar Allen Poe’s work. He comes
across as far too creepy, but a very specific type of creepy: he is extremely
specific with creating a sense of dread in readers. Most details Poe includes
in his stories are either directly used in the story or are brilliant cases of
foreshadowing. So, I agree when others say Poe is a great writer – he certainly
is – but the way he writes and the subjects he covers are usually too much for
me. Out of the five pieces he wrote which we read this week (The Black Cat, Fall
of the House of Usher, Cask of Amontillado, Ligeia, and Annabel Lee), I can
only get through Annabel Lee in a single sitting. This is probably because
Annabel Lee is only a poem while the other four works are short stories.
Death is ever-present in Poe’s work, with a beautiful or
mysterious woman dying in every story mentioned except the Cask of Amontillado
(since there are only two men in the story, with one killing the other). In
Annabel Lee, however, Poe is a bit more reserved. Annabel Lee herself dies
tragically, but that’s the end of it. There’s no supernatural force like in
Ligeia, no tragic death like in the Fall of the House of Usher, and no sinister
reveal like at the end of The Black Cat. Annabel Lee dies and her lover can
only like next to her in her tomb each and every night. It’s certainly creepy,
but it never goes beyond that, which is extremely unlike Poe, in my opinion. Furthermore,
Poe writes how the two of them will eventually be reunited, giving the promise
of a happy ending. Since Poe wrote Annabel Lee close to the time of his death,
perhaps he was writing about himself – the promise of seeing his wife again.
Whatever the case, Poe will always be remembered for his fascinating
obsession with death. And if Annabel Lee really was about his wife, I certainly
hope he was reunited with her in whatever life there is to come.
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