Text: Edgar Allan Poe, “Annabel Lee” (Comparative Text)


∞∞∞∞∞∞∞


Texts Represented:

  • 1849-01 - “Griswold” manuscript (late May 1849)
  • 1849-02 - New York Daily Tribune (October 9, 1849) (reprinted in the Weekly Tribune of October 20, 1849)
  • 1849-03 - The Poets and Poetry of America (late 1849, 10th edition)
  • 1850-04 - WORKS (1850)

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞


Title: {{1849-01: Annabel Lee. //1849-02; 1849-03; 1850-04: ANNABEL LEE. }}

{{1850-04: ~~~~~~~~~~~~ }}

Line-001: It was many and many a year ago,

Line-002: [[indent]] In a kingdom by the sea {{1849-01: , //1849-02: [[,]] //1849-03; 1850-04: , }}

Line-003: That a maiden there lived whom you may know

Line-004: [[indent]] By the name of {{1849-01: Annabel Lee //1849-02; 1849-03; 1850-04: ANNABEL LEE }} ;

Line-005: And this maiden she lived with no other thought

Line-006: [[indent]] Than to love and be loved by me.

Line-007: I was a child and she was a child,

Line-008: [[indent]] In this kingdom by the sea {{1849-01: : // 1849-02: , //1849-03: ; //1850-04: : }}

Line-009: But we loved with a love that was more than love —

Line-010: [[indent]] I and my Annabel Lee {{1849-01; 1849-02; 1849-03://1850-04: ; }}

Line-011: With a love that the {{1849-01: wingéd //1849-02: wingëd //1849-03: wingéd //1850-04: winged }} seraphs in {{1849-01: Heaven //1849-02; 1849-03; 1850-04: heaven }}

Line-012: [[indent]] Coveted her and me.

Line-013: And this was the reason that, long ago,

Line-014: [[indent]] In this kingdom by the sea,

Line-015: A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling

Line-016: [[indent]] My beautiful {{1849-01: Annabel Lee //1849-02; 1849-03; 1850-04: ANNABEL LEE }} ;

Line-017: So that her high-born {{1849-01; 1849-02; 1849-03: kinsmen // 1850-04: kinsman [[kinsmen]] }} came

Line-018: [[indent]] And bore her away from me,

Line-019: To shut her up in a sepulchre {{1849-01: , //1849-02: [[,]] //1849-03: , //1850-04: [[,]] }}

Line-020: [[indent]] In this kingdom by the sea.

Line-021: The angels, not half so happy in {{1849-01: Heaven //1849-02; 1849-03; 1850-04: heaven }} ,

Line-022: [[indent]] Went envying her and me —

Line-023: Yes! — that was the reason (as all men know,

Line-024: [[indent]] In this kingdom by the sea)

Line-025: That the wind came out of the cloud by night,

Line-026: [[indent]] Chilling and killing my {{1849-01: Annabel Lee // 1849-02; 1849-03; 1850-04: ANNABEL LEE }} .

Line-027: But our love it was stronger by far than the love

Line-028: [[indent]] Of those who were older than we —

Line-029: [[indent]] Of many far wiser than we —

Line-030: And neither the angels in {{1849-01: Heaven //1849-02; 1849-03; 1850-04: heaven }} above,

Line-031: [[indent]] Nor the demons down under the sea,

Line-032: Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

Line-033: [[indent]] Of the beautiful {{1849-01: Annabel Lee //1849-02; 1849-03; 1850-04: ANNABEL LEE }} : {{1849-01:}}

Line-034: For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

Line-035: [[indent]] Of the beautiful {{1849-01: Annabel Lee //1849-02; 1849-03; 1850-04: ANNABEL LEE }} ;

Line-036: And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

Line-037: [[indent]] Of the beautiful {{1849-01: Annabel Lee //1849-02; 1849-03; 1850-04: ANNABEL LEE }} {{1849-01: : — //1849-02: : //1849-03; 1850-04: ; }}

Line-038: And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side

Line-039: Of my darling — my darling — my life and my bride,

Line-040: [[indent]] In {{1849-01; 1849-02; 1849-03: her //1850-04: the [[her]] }} sepulchre there by the sea —

Line-041: [[indent]] In her tomb by the sounding sea.

 


∞∞∞∞∞∞∞


Notes:

For an explanation of the formatting used in this Comparative Text, see editorial policies and methods. This format is very much an experiment, particularly for poetry.

The byline was omitted from the various printings because it was not necessary in those contexts, where Poe's authorship was already evident.

Although the technical order of publication is reversed, the text for the obituary in the New York Tribune was probably taken from what was already set in type for The Poets and Poetry of America. The use of large and small caps for names appearing in the text of a poem was a feature of that book, but not clearly so for the Tribune, and the typesetters for the Tribune may have merely copied it from the source they were provided by Griswold.

 

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

[S:0 - comparative] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Poems - Annabel Lee (Comparative Text - All MSS)