The music effects of Annabel Lee

         The most distinctive characteristic of poetry is form and music. One poet said “ To take sound away from poetry is like tearing the wings from a bird.” Poets, like musicians, are sensitive to the effects of sound. By varying rhythm and rhyme, they can excite different emotions in the readers.

        Annabel Lee was written by Edgar Allan Poe (1809—1849), who used words for their sounds more than their meanings. That is why he wax called “ a jingle man”.

        The poet wrote the poetry to miss his cousin, Virginia, whom he loved deeply, but the sad fact is that this delicate and beautiful girl was in bad health and continued to be a child in mind as she grew older. She finally died in 1847 in freezing weather in a miserable cottage, she and Poe shared, with Poe’s coat over her and a cat on her chest to keep her warm while Poe held her hands. So when you read the poem, you may feel that you are listening a sorrow song, filling with deep yearning.

       This poem is known for its melodious flow of sound and rhythm. The frequent use of repetition and some other poetic devices in the poem, all make it musical.

        The poet, in this poem, used many musical words, such as Annabel Lee, chilling, sea, tomb, sepulchre, ect. Annabel Lee, which sounds like a bell, ringing from far away, was the name coined by the poem elaborately. Once the name is chosen, it indicates that the fundamental key of the poem is sentimental. As we know that he wrote the poem to think fondly of his lover. Sea always connects with the sound of sea wave in our mind. On the contrary, tomb and sepulchre always produce a mood of soundless, like a rest in music. These words, some have dynamic characteristics, and some have static characteristics, make the rhythm undulate.

         Repetition is one of the techniques often used by poem in the poetry, which has much to do with its emotional appeals as well as the music effects. The poem has only six stanzas while the name, Annabel Lee, appeals total seven times. So the sound of Annabel Lee is the main melody of the poem. Every call from the poet penetrates the sounds of the sea wave echoing around us. In the last stanza, the poet used part or full repetition.

For the moon never beams without bringing my dreams

               Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;  

         And the stars never rise but I see 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 side of the sea.

      From the last stanza we can perceive that it is the climax of the poem. The poet, like a composer, repeated the main melody of the poem to enhance his feelings. The use of repetition, together with other techniques, influence the readers’ hearing, and make the whole poem linger around the readers’ ears leisurely and continuously.

          Rhyme generally serves two purposes. First, to increase the musicality of a poem, thus giving delight by fulfilling our expectation of a recurring sound; second, to link lines and stanzas of a poem together. Poe used rhyme to achieve specific effects. Skim through the whole, you will find that the poet was partial to use the end rhyme [ i: ]. In the poem, he used many words, such as Annabel Lee, we, see, me, which all contain the vowel [ i: ], to create the music effects. [ i: ] is repeatedly used by the poet, it can cause a kind of downcast, not excited effect. [ l ], [ m ], [ v ], these phonemes all suggest the effects of quietude and gentleness. Obviously, [ k ], [ g ], [ ts ], [ ds ], those consonants which always suggest rough, cruel, unharmonious effects, can’t be found in the poem.

     Besides these, in the last stanza the poet also used the internal rhyme in several places, “beams” rhymes with “dream”, and “rise” with “eyes” and “tide” with “side”. The internal rhyme also plays a part in forming the music effects.

       In combination, these devices of these poem can give it a rich texture of sound, which is pleasurable in itself and which also enhance the meaning of the poem.

参考书目

程爱民        《美国文学阅读教程》      南京师范大学出版社  1996

丁往道 竹清   《英诗入门》                 上海译文出版社           1994

董素华          《英语名诗赏析》         世界图书出版西安公司 1999

                                                                    吴中区          刘晓东