Romanticism in Poe, Coppélia, and Delacroix's Art

Introduction to American Romanticism and Poe

Edgar Allan Poe is one of the early American poets of Romantic literature. In the poem "Annabel Lee," he uses idealism and Romantic language to describe a relationship with a woman in the first person. The description of the adult lovers as children most likely represents innocence or naivety. Romanticism enters through the comparison of the couple to elements of nature. The love the two share is free from societal norms or influence, and the joy of simply being together is so great that even the angels were envious of them.

The way Poe wrote the poem is very rhythmic, much like the movement of waves in the ocean. This imagery ebbs and flows as one reads the lines. The poem also has a dreamlike quality, appearing surreal and supernatural. In the world of Poe and Annabel Lee, angels can determine the fate of humans.

Analysis of Annabel Lee

Annabel Lee dies from a chilling wind from heaven. The news of her death flows into the life of Poe and then just as softly ebbs the life out of him. However, as Poe describes Annabel Lee as living in the stars of heaven, he realizes that death cannot separate them. The love they share is stronger than life itself. The eternity of heaven, earth, wind, ocean, and stars is somehow breached by the eternal love this husband and wife shared. Within that love, they can be together again. In the closing, Poe goes to the sepulcher where Annabel Lee lies and joins her by the sea in death.

The full text of Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe (Online-Literature.com, 2012) is as follows:

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love —
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulcher
In this kingdom by the sea.

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.

But 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 down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

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;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling — my darling — my life and my bride,
In the sepulcher there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Conclusion

These three works — a poem, a ballet, and a painting — each illuminate the core Romantic values of emotional intensity, imagination, freedom from social constraint, and the power of love and nature. Poe's "Annabel Lee" expresses a transcendent love stronger than death; Coppélia blends fantasy and the supernatural with human emotion; and Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People celebrates collective freedom and the defiance of oppressive order. Together they demonstrate the breadth and vitality of the Romantic movement across literature, performance, and the visual arts.