Poe's "Ligeia" and "Annabel Lee": Love, Death, and Gothic Themes

Introduction: Poe's Recurring Themes

Through his short stories and poetry, Edgar Allan Poe was one of the forefathers of Gothic literature in the United States. Through his unique writing style and his interest in the macabre, Poe established a literary canon that had the capacity to intrigue and terrify his audiences simultaneously. A recurring theme among Poe's short stories and poetry is the death of a beautiful woman, the eternal connection that the narrator of each respective work holds with the deceased, and the supernatural. Both "Ligeia," a short story published in 1838, and "Annabel Lee," a poem published posthumously in 1849, integrate these elements into their narratives.

Death and Obsession in 'Ligeia'

In "Ligeia," Poe writes about the death of not one, but two women. The narrator experiences the loss of two of his wives, Ligeia and Rowena Trevanion. It is clear through the description of the women that the narrator is far more attached to his first wife than his second. He pays much more attention to describing Ligeia, and the language he uses to illustrate her features is almost poetic. For example, when describing Ligeia's eyes he states, "For eyes we have no models in the remotely antique…The hue of the orbs was the most brilliant of black, and, far over them, hung jetty lashes of great length. The brows, slightly irregular in outline, had the same tint" (Poe 655). What is ironic is that the narrator can recall almost every minute detail about Ligeia's appearance and character, yet admits, "And now, while I write, a recollection flashes upon me that I have never known the paternal name of her who was my friend and my betrothed, and who became the partner of my studies, and finally the wife of my bosom" (654). By contrast, the narrator describes his second wife merely as "the successor of the unforgotten Ligeia — the fair-haired and blue-eyed Lady Rowena of Trevanion" (660).

In the short story, Rowena is the antithesis of Ligeia. Moreover, it can be argued that one of the only reasons the narrator married Rowena is because he was under the influence of opium, which he was using to ameliorate his grief over losing Ligeia. The narrator's reaction toward his second wife is especially disturbing. Inexplicably, he "loathed [Rowena] with a hatred belonging more to demon than to man," and his "spirit fully and freely burned with more than all the fires of [Ligeia's]" whenever "his memory flew back…to Ligeia, the beloved, the august, the beautiful, the entombed" (661).

Additionally, the narrator did not abandon his opium habit after marrying Rowena, which caused him to hallucinate on several occasions. These hallucinations, regardless of whether they are fueled by opium, appear to be supernatural in nature. For instance, while giving Rowena some wine "which had been ordered by her physicians," the narrator contends, "I saw, or may have dreamed that I saw, fall within the goblet, as if from some invisible spring in the atmosphere of the room, three or four large drops of a brilliant and ruby-colored fluid" (662, 663). He continues: "I cannot conceal it from my own perception that, immediately subsequent to the fall of the ruby-drops, a rapid change for the worse took place in the disorder of my wife," and by the fourth night, he "sat alone, with her shrouded body, in that fantastic chamber, which had received her as [the narrator's] bride" (663). Despite having just lost Rowena, the narrator is overcome by "a thousand memories of Ligeia" (663).

In his grief-filled stupor, the narrator claims to see the corpse of Rowena transform into Ligeia. Through Ligeia's apparent transcendence and the narrator's inability to emotionally and psychologically release her, there exists what can be read as an immortal and transcendent bond between Ligeia and the narrator. Not only is he haunted by every minute detail of her being, but he is constantly thinking of her, mistreating Rowena because she is everything Ligeia is not, and ultimately believes that Ligeia has returned to him through Rowena's corpse.

Eternal Love and the Supernatural in 'Annabel Lee'

The poem "Annabel Lee" likewise uses the death of a beautiful woman to drive the narrative. Poe establishes that the narrator feels there is an eternal and unbreakable bond between him and his beloved, and that no entity — whether natural or supernatural — will be able to keep them apart. The narrator contends that he and Annabel Lee "loved with a love that was more than love — / [He] and [his] Annabel Lee; / With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven / Coveted her and [he]" (lines 9–12). He maintains that this great love drove supernatural forces — seraphs and angels — to tear the couple apart: "The angels, not half so happy in heaven, / Went envying her and me — / Yes! — that was the reason (as all men know, / In this kingdom by the sea) / That the wind came out of the cloud by night, / Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee" (lines 21–26).

While the narrator in "Ligeia" does not explicitly declare an eternal bond but is continuously overwhelmed by memory, the narrator in "Annabel Lee" states directly: "our love it was stronger by far than the love / Of those who were older than we — / Of many far wiser than we — / And neither the angels in heaven above, / Nor the demons under the sea, / Can ever dissever my soul from the soul / Of the beautiful Annabel Lee" (lines 27–33). Like the narrator in "Ligeia," he is constantly thinking of his lost love: "For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams / Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; / And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes / Of the beautiful Annabel Lee" (lines 34–37).

Conclusion: Love That Transcends Death

Poe's fascination with the deaths of beautiful women was a theme that carried into many of his works. In "Ligeia" and "Annabel Lee," Poe successfully establishes his narrators' belief that love is eternal and that the bond one forms with a true love cannot be severed by natural or supernatural forces. In "Ligeia," this is demonstrated through a narrator who cannot release the memory of his first wife and appears to will her back to life through the corpse of his recently deceased second wife. In "Annabel Lee," the concept is demonstrated through the narrator's contention that he and his beloved were destined for one another and that no force could keep them apart forever — holding fast to the belief that he and Annabel Lee would ultimately be reunited in death. Though death is a common thread running through both works, Poe establishes that love and desire have the power to transcend life and death itself.