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Abstract: As a famous America poet and short story writer, Edgar Allan Poe wrote a lot of poems and short stories during his short lifetime.In his short stories, death is usually horrible and mysterious.On the contrary, in many of his poems, death is dealt with in forms of beauty.These poems have high delight of the beauty.Obviously, when Poe produced the poems and tales, he adhered to different principles and theories.This thesis explains the reasons for the differences between different manifestations of death in Poe’s poetry and tales, in particular, the embellishment of death in Poe’s poetry, such as images, backgrounds, and melody of his poems associated with death.
Key words:Edgar Allan Poe， poetry， death， beauty
中图分类号：I106.2 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1673-1875(2007)04-079-04
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), a famous America poet and short story writer, wrote about fifty poems1 and seventy-five short stories2 in his short lifetime.He wrote four volumes of poetry: Tamerlane and Other poems (1827), Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems (1829), Poems (1831).“The Raven,” his masterpiece appeared in 1845 as the title poem of a collection.Poe also wrote a lot of short stories, such as “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “Ligeia,” “The Black Cat,” and so on.A major theme of his poetry and short stories is death.Many of his poems are about death.It is no exaggerations to say that most of his excellent poems are about death directly or indirectly,3 such as “Dreams,” “Spirits of the Dead,” “To—M,” “The Raven,” “The Valley of Unrest,” “Bridal Ballad,” “The Sleeper,” “Lenore,” “Dreamland,” “The City in the Sea,” “The Conqueror Worm,” “Al Aaraaf,” “Tamerlane,” “Annabel Lee,” “The Bells,” “Ulalume,” “To Helen,” “For Annie,” “To My Mother,” “The Lake—To—,” “To—(The bowers whereat, in dreams, I see) .”In many of these poems, death, presented in forms of beauty, provides the reader with aesthetic beauty.Reading these poems is to go into a world of fairy tales.Whereas in Poe’s stories or tales, such as “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “Ligeia,” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” death is presented in a horrid atmosphere.In these “Gothic tales,” the protagonists or things are in a morbid state and make our hair stand on end with living corpses and unimaginable perils.The reading of such stories plunges the reader into anxiety and fear.
Obviously, Poe’s poetry and stories treat death differently.Some critics believe that Poe probed deep into the society in which he lived.They believe that Poe in his poetry turns eagerly towards imagination and seizes the right movement that is enchanted with happy or extreme pain, whereas in his stories, peculiar ideas about death with horrified apprehensions and misgivings lead to the representation of death in forms of horror.This thesis studies the reasons for Poe’s different treatments of death, in particular, his presentation of death in poetry.
Undoubtedly, when Poe produced the poems and tales, he adhered to different principles and theories.In his poetry, he stresses “effective unity” and “sentimental effect” and is opposed to “banter and the Didactic.”In “The Philosophy of Composition” and other places, Poe declares that “ a long poem does not exist… A poem deserves its title only inasmuch as it excites, by elevating the soul… That degree of excitement… cannot be sustained throughout a composition of any great length.”This is true because of “that vital requisite in all works of Art, Unity,” and the “absolute effect of even the best epic under the sun is a nullity” (Peter 663).He proceeds to attack “the heresy of the Didactic” and calls for “pure poetry”: “there neither exists nor can exist any work more thoroughly dignified, more supremely noble than the poem which is a poem and nothing more— the poem written solely for the poem’s sake.”The proper mood for teaching a truth is completely opposed to the poetic mood.So, Poe’s poems aim at producing a feeling of beauty in the reader.To him, beauty aims at “an elevating excitement of the soul,” and “beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears.”And he concludes, “the death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world.”
Another reason for the difference between the forms of death in Poe’s poetry and tales lies in his life.The poet tries to reach the acme of perfection in his lifetime, but the ultimate pursuit of life and concrete and rational barriers make up an inevitable contradiction with the ideal of the author.In this conflict, Poe feels disheartened.The aspiration and distance between his ideal and the real world lead to his profound psychology.Poe advocates that poetry should be felt and expressed with enthusiasm.In “Letter to Mr.—,” Poe says, “A poem, in my opinion, is opposed to a work of science by having, for its immediate object, pleasure, not truth; to romance, by having for its object an indefinite instead of a definite pleasure, being a poem only so far as this object is attained: romance presenting perceptible images with definite, poetry with indefinite sensations.”Obviously, Poe believes that stories should be faithful to real life, whereas poetry idealizes the real life.“Poetry, above all things, is a beautiful painting whose tints, to minute inspection, are confusion worse confounded, but start boldly out to the cursory glance of the connoisseur”（彭贵菊 250-251）.
“Spirits of the Dead” is a lyric poem about death.Most of the lines are iambic, and in this piece of work, there are five stanzas of a varying number of lines.And the subject of death in this poem is enhanced stanza by stanza.The first stanza deals with the thoughts of one who is approaching death.It is a time to reflect upon and to ponder over the upcoming event.
Thy soul shall find itself alone
'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone;
Not one, of all the crowd, to pry
Into thine hour of secrecy.
The second stanza pertains to the theme of death.The dying person feels closer to those that have gone before.The spirits of others are not intimidating, but in fact, welcoming and solacing in their presence.This is a time for inactivity if one knows that the event is to happen.
Be silent in that solitude,
Which is not loneliness- for then
The spirits of the dead, who stood
In life before thee, are again
In death around thee, and their will
Shall overshadow thee; be still.
In the third stanza, the author appears to be giving up hope as death approaches.However, this is not the case.Although the stars seem weary, they are dimming their lights for an easier transition from the world of the living to the silent of the other world.4Stars represent the guiding light and eternal wish in which one believes.
The night, though clear, shall frown,
And the stars shall not look down
From their high thrones in the Heaven
With light like hope to mortals given,
This is not to say that someone who is dying should not wish for the best, but rather that the end of life coming near is irreversible and must needs to occur.The “weariness” that Poe talks about can also be interpreted as the representation of the slowing down of life and more simplified outlook on life that one takes when approaching death.
The night, though clear, shall frown,
And the stars shall not look down
From their high thrones in the Heaven
With light like hope to mortals given,
The fourth stanza is the release of pain and worry that occurs near the end of life.This is not the case for all deaths, but if one dies in a quiet, peaceful way, there is little that troubles the person in his final minutes.Their life-long memories are not forgotten.
Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish,
Now are visions ne'er to vanish;
What’s more, death is as alive as the dew is when it falls upon each blade of grass.Dewdrops under the morning sunrise not only designate transience of life, but also signify the gradual, gentle (“pass”) and joyful release of the entire experience.
From thy spirit shall they pass
No more, like dew-drop from the grass.
In the last stanza, death finally occurs and the person’s soul has become part of nature again.The soul is as light as a breeze and as beautiful as a cloud in the sky.The trees symbolize the regenerative cycle, the “mystery of mysteries” that life follows.
The breeze, the breath of God, is still,
And the mist upon the hill
Shadowy, shadowy, yet unbroken,
Is a symbol and a token.
How it hangs upon the trees,
A mystery of mysteries!
Many critics say that the poem is based upon the death of a woman close to Poe,5 but her identity can only be speculated upon.It as a whole explains Poe’s concept of the mist of human existence in which one’s soul partakes.Poe seems to believe that man’s spirit is lonely with respects to earth, but is not as lonely as it seems when compared with the larger reality of death.
The use of assonance, too, adds a musical effect to the atmosphere in which death occurs.
Thy soul shall find itself alone
'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone;
…
The night, though clear, shall frown,
And the stars shall not look down
From their high thrones in the Heaven
With light like hope to mortals given,
But their red orbs, without beam,
To thy weariness shall seem
As a burning and a fever
Which would cling to thee for ever.
Death presented in such gentle terms and melodious and leisurely rhythm and tone invites not fear, but understanding.
In “Annabel Lee,” the poet looks back into the distant past to a time in a kingdom by the sea where he and his love Annabel Lee live.
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.
They were both very young, but their love is so great that even the winged seraphs of Heaven, the highest rank of angels, envy them for it.
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 then death came to Annabel Lee, and her kinsmen carry her to her grave.The poet attributes the cause of her death to the envious angels and vows that no power can separate her soul from her.
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 kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
He remembers her always and sleeps by the side of her tomb every night, where the moon and the stars together remind him of her.Even death cannot demolish their love and he loves her in spite of her death.What’s more, she is directly associated with death.His love for her in a way endears death.As the girl is now “with death” and part of the world of death, death is associated with and beautified by their love.
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 her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
The poem sings praises of ideal love— a kind of purest, noblest and the most perfect love.When Annabel Lee dies, he feels extremely sorrowful and is preoccupied with her.He treats her with absolute sincerity.Although they are far apart as the sky and the sea, she lives in his heart forever.The story touches us deeply in the heart instead of weighing us down with sorrow.All of these leave a deep impression and happy memories on us.
In “Annabel Lee,” the poet gives ugly death a beautiful form by creating a vision of beauty and melodious sound strong enough to block out the ugly world he hates and fears.Poe stresses the description of atmosphere in the poem.Through the description of atmosphere, we feel the poem is like a fairy tale, it seems that lovers (children) are ignorant of death.The poem describes death observed innocently by children.It seems to show us a kind of true love in a child’s heart.Meanwhile, the poet uses repetitions to arouse feelings of pleasure in the reader.“In this kingdom by the sea” is repeated four times.“(Of) my beautiful Annabel Lee” is repeated three times.“A wind came out of the cloud/chilling my Annabel Lee” is repeated one time.The repetitions give the poem qualities of children’s song.
“The City in the Sea” is characterized by the gloom and stillness of an empty city beneath the glass-like surface of the desolate ocean that has been invaded by death. Poe concentrates on several images including death, light and sky, and the stillness of the sea and the city beneath it.
The poem contains five stanzas.Stanzas 1-4 describe light and shadow.Here, death is dynamic.
Streams up the turrets silently—
Gleams up the pinnacles far and free—
While the other things are static:
Resignedly beneath the sky
The melancholy waters lie.
It describes the peaceful sea and gives us an impression of obedience and passivity.On the one hand, the description of the sea sets off the lonely, stern and harsh town; on the other hand, it contrasts with the picture of the description of the fifth stanza:
…
The waves have now a redder glow—
The hours are breathing faint and low—
And when, amid no earthly moans,
Down, down that town shall settle hence,
Hell, rising from a thousand thrones,
Shall do it reverence.
In most of his poems, such as “Annabel Lee,” Poe attaches great importance to musical beauty.He treats music as an indispensable part and an important means to express beauty.He says, “being a poem only so far as this object is attained: romance presenting perceptible images with definite, poetry with indefinite sensations, to which end music is essential, since the comprehension of sweet sound is our most indefinite conception.Music, when combined with a pleasurable idea, is poetry; music without the idea is simply music; the idea without the music is prose from its very definitiveness.What was meant by the invective against him who had no music in his soul? ”（彭贵菊251）
For example, in “Annabel Lee,” each of the six stanzas contains alternate four and three stress lines, the basic rhythm pattern being anapestic, with frequent iambic substitutions, thus:
It was manly and manly 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.
Meanwhile, Poe uses insistent repetitions for effect.The girl’s name and phrases like “in this kingdom by the sea” are refrains like the insistent tolling of a bell.In “Annabel Lee,” the poet selects the distinctive modulate, so it sounds like the flow and ebb of tide.Sometimes it is full of terrifying waves, sometimes it keeps silent.So “Annabel Lee” shows high musical beauty, which releases the tension between life and death, making death easier to accept.
In a word, death as a predominant theme of Poe’s poetry produces effects of beauty instead of terror.The poems are full of melancholic beauty whether in the disturbing images of death and events beyond the grave described in “The Raven,” or in the hypnotic fantasy of works such as “The City in the Sea” and “Annabel Lee.”As a result, these poems stimulate in the reader perceptions of aesthetic beauty.
Notes:
[1]桂杨清，吴翔林.英美文学选读[M].北京:中国对外翻译出版公司,1997.316.
[2]曹明伦译.爱伦·坡[M].北京: 三联书店，1995.
[3]According to my computation, in Poe’s poems,
The word of death appears directly in: “Al Aaraaf,” “The City in the Sea,” “The Lake—To,” “Lenore,” “Spirits of the Dead,” “Tamerlane,” “To Helen,” “To My Mother.”
The word of dying appears directly in: “The Raven,” “Serenade,” “Tamerlane.”
The word of dead appears directly in: “Bridal Ballad,” “The City in the Sea,” “Dreamland,” “For Annie,” “Lenore,” “The Sleeper,” “Spirits of the Dead,” “Tamerlane,” “To M—.”The word of sleep appears directly in: “Al Aaraaf,” “Fairy–land,” “Serenade,” “The Sleeper,” “To—.”
[4]The star can also be a symbol for human life. Thus, the dimming stars can be interpreted as a coming end of the journey of life.
[5]http:/www.nadn.navy.mil/Englishept/poeperplex/poems.htm
Key words:Edgar Allan Poe， poetry， death， beauty
中图分类号：I106.2 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1673-1875(2007)04-079-04
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), a famous America poet and short story writer, wrote about fifty poems1 and seventy-five short stories2 in his short lifetime.He wrote four volumes of poetry: Tamerlane and Other poems (1827), Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems (1829), Poems (1831).“The Raven,” his masterpiece appeared in 1845 as the title poem of a collection.Poe also wrote a lot of short stories, such as “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “Ligeia,” “The Black Cat,” and so on.A major theme of his poetry and short stories is death.Many of his poems are about death.It is no exaggerations to say that most of his excellent poems are about death directly or indirectly,3 such as “Dreams,” “Spirits of the Dead,” “To—M,” “The Raven,” “The Valley of Unrest,” “Bridal Ballad,” “The Sleeper,” “Lenore,” “Dreamland,” “The City in the Sea,” “The Conqueror Worm,” “Al Aaraaf,” “Tamerlane,” “Annabel Lee,” “The Bells,” “Ulalume,” “To Helen,” “For Annie,” “To My Mother,” “The Lake—To—,” “To—(The bowers whereat, in dreams, I see) .”In many of these poems, death, presented in forms of beauty, provides the reader with aesthetic beauty.Reading these poems is to go into a world of fairy tales.Whereas in Poe’s stories or tales, such as “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “Ligeia,” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” death is presented in a horrid atmosphere.In these “Gothic tales,” the protagonists or things are in a morbid state and make our hair stand on end with living corpses and unimaginable perils.The reading of such stories plunges the reader into anxiety and fear.
Obviously, Poe’s poetry and stories treat death differently.Some critics believe that Poe probed deep into the society in which he lived.They believe that Poe in his poetry turns eagerly towards imagination and seizes the right movement that is enchanted with happy or extreme pain, whereas in his stories, peculiar ideas about death with horrified apprehensions and misgivings lead to the representation of death in forms of horror.This thesis studies the reasons for Poe’s different treatments of death, in particular, his presentation of death in poetry.
Undoubtedly, when Poe produced the poems and tales, he adhered to different principles and theories.In his poetry, he stresses “effective unity” and “sentimental effect” and is opposed to “banter and the Didactic.”In “The Philosophy of Composition” and other places, Poe declares that “ a long poem does not exist… A poem deserves its title only inasmuch as it excites, by elevating the soul… That degree of excitement… cannot be sustained throughout a composition of any great length.”This is true because of “that vital requisite in all works of Art, Unity,” and the “absolute effect of even the best epic under the sun is a nullity” (Peter 663).He proceeds to attack “the heresy of the Didactic” and calls for “pure poetry”: “there neither exists nor can exist any work more thoroughly dignified, more supremely noble than the poem which is a poem and nothing more— the poem written solely for the poem’s sake.”The proper mood for teaching a truth is completely opposed to the poetic mood.So, Poe’s poems aim at producing a feeling of beauty in the reader.To him, beauty aims at “an elevating excitement of the soul,” and “beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears.”And he concludes, “the death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world.”
Another reason for the difference between the forms of death in Poe’s poetry and tales lies in his life.The poet tries to reach the acme of perfection in his lifetime, but the ultimate pursuit of life and concrete and rational barriers make up an inevitable contradiction with the ideal of the author.In this conflict, Poe feels disheartened.The aspiration and distance between his ideal and the real world lead to his profound psychology.Poe advocates that poetry should be felt and expressed with enthusiasm.In “Letter to Mr.—,” Poe says, “A poem, in my opinion, is opposed to a work of science by having, for its immediate object, pleasure, not truth; to romance, by having for its object an indefinite instead of a definite pleasure, being a poem only so far as this object is attained: romance presenting perceptible images with definite, poetry with indefinite sensations.”Obviously, Poe believes that stories should be faithful to real life, whereas poetry idealizes the real life.“Poetry, above all things, is a beautiful painting whose tints, to minute inspection, are confusion worse confounded, but start boldly out to the cursory glance of the connoisseur”（彭贵菊 250-251）.
“Spirits of the Dead” is a lyric poem about death.Most of the lines are iambic, and in this piece of work, there are five stanzas of a varying number of lines.And the subject of death in this poem is enhanced stanza by stanza.The first stanza deals with the thoughts of one who is approaching death.It is a time to reflect upon and to ponder over the upcoming event.
Thy soul shall find itself alone
'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone;
Not one, of all the crowd, to pry
Into thine hour of secrecy.
The second stanza pertains to the theme of death.The dying person feels closer to those that have gone before.The spirits of others are not intimidating, but in fact, welcoming and solacing in their presence.This is a time for inactivity if one knows that the event is to happen.
Be silent in that solitude,
Which is not loneliness- for then
The spirits of the dead, who stood
In life before thee, are again
In death around thee, and their will
Shall overshadow thee; be still.
In the third stanza, the author appears to be giving up hope as death approaches.However, this is not the case.Although the stars seem weary, they are dimming their lights for an easier transition from the world of the living to the silent of the other world.4Stars represent the guiding light and eternal wish in which one believes.
The night, though clear, shall frown,
And the stars shall not look down
From their high thrones in the Heaven
With light like hope to mortals given,
This is not to say that someone who is dying should not wish for the best, but rather that the end of life coming near is irreversible and must needs to occur.The “weariness” that Poe talks about can also be interpreted as the representation of the slowing down of life and more simplified outlook on life that one takes when approaching death.
The night, though clear, shall frown,
And the stars shall not look down
From their high thrones in the Heaven
With light like hope to mortals given,
The fourth stanza is the release of pain and worry that occurs near the end of life.This is not the case for all deaths, but if one dies in a quiet, peaceful way, there is little that troubles the person in his final minutes.Their life-long memories are not forgotten.
Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish,
Now are visions ne'er to vanish;
What’s more, death is as alive as the dew is when it falls upon each blade of grass.Dewdrops under the morning sunrise not only designate transience of life, but also signify the gradual, gentle (“pass”) and joyful release of the entire experience.
From thy spirit shall they pass
No more, like dew-drop from the grass.
In the last stanza, death finally occurs and the person’s soul has become part of nature again.The soul is as light as a breeze and as beautiful as a cloud in the sky.The trees symbolize the regenerative cycle, the “mystery of mysteries” that life follows.
The breeze, the breath of God, is still,
And the mist upon the hill
Shadowy, shadowy, yet unbroken,
Is a symbol and a token.
How it hangs upon the trees,
A mystery of mysteries!
Many critics say that the poem is based upon the death of a woman close to Poe,5 but her identity can only be speculated upon.It as a whole explains Poe’s concept of the mist of human existence in which one’s soul partakes.Poe seems to believe that man’s spirit is lonely with respects to earth, but is not as lonely as it seems when compared with the larger reality of death.
The use of assonance, too, adds a musical effect to the atmosphere in which death occurs.
Thy soul shall find itself alone
'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone;
…
The night, though clear, shall frown,
And the stars shall not look down
From their high thrones in the Heaven
With light like hope to mortals given,
But their red orbs, without beam,
To thy weariness shall seem
As a burning and a fever
Which would cling to thee for ever.
Death presented in such gentle terms and melodious and leisurely rhythm and tone invites not fear, but understanding.
In “Annabel Lee,” the poet looks back into the distant past to a time in a kingdom by the sea where he and his love Annabel Lee live.
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.
They were both very young, but their love is so great that even the winged seraphs of Heaven, the highest rank of angels, envy them for it.
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 then death came to Annabel Lee, and her kinsmen carry her to her grave.The poet attributes the cause of her death to the envious angels and vows that no power can separate her soul from her.
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 kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
He remembers her always and sleeps by the side of her tomb every night, where the moon and the stars together remind him of her.Even death cannot demolish their love and he loves her in spite of her death.What’s more, she is directly associated with death.His love for her in a way endears death.As the girl is now “with death” and part of the world of death, death is associated with and beautified by their love.
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 her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
The poem sings praises of ideal love— a kind of purest, noblest and the most perfect love.When Annabel Lee dies, he feels extremely sorrowful and is preoccupied with her.He treats her with absolute sincerity.Although they are far apart as the sky and the sea, she lives in his heart forever.The story touches us deeply in the heart instead of weighing us down with sorrow.All of these leave a deep impression and happy memories on us.
In “Annabel Lee,” the poet gives ugly death a beautiful form by creating a vision of beauty and melodious sound strong enough to block out the ugly world he hates and fears.Poe stresses the description of atmosphere in the poem.Through the description of atmosphere, we feel the poem is like a fairy tale, it seems that lovers (children) are ignorant of death.The poem describes death observed innocently by children.It seems to show us a kind of true love in a child’s heart.Meanwhile, the poet uses repetitions to arouse feelings of pleasure in the reader.“In this kingdom by the sea” is repeated four times.“(Of) my beautiful Annabel Lee” is repeated three times.“A wind came out of the cloud/chilling my Annabel Lee” is repeated one time.The repetitions give the poem qualities of children’s song.
“The City in the Sea” is characterized by the gloom and stillness of an empty city beneath the glass-like surface of the desolate ocean that has been invaded by death. Poe concentrates on several images including death, light and sky, and the stillness of the sea and the city beneath it.
The poem contains five stanzas.Stanzas 1-4 describe light and shadow.Here, death is dynamic.
Streams up the turrets silently—
Gleams up the pinnacles far and free—
While the other things are static:
Resignedly beneath the sky
The melancholy waters lie.
It describes the peaceful sea and gives us an impression of obedience and passivity.On the one hand, the description of the sea sets off the lonely, stern and harsh town; on the other hand, it contrasts with the picture of the description of the fifth stanza:
…
The waves have now a redder glow—
The hours are breathing faint and low—
And when, amid no earthly moans,
Down, down that town shall settle hence,
Hell, rising from a thousand thrones,
Shall do it reverence.
In most of his poems, such as “Annabel Lee,” Poe attaches great importance to musical beauty.He treats music as an indispensable part and an important means to express beauty.He says, “being a poem only so far as this object is attained: romance presenting perceptible images with definite, poetry with indefinite sensations, to which end music is essential, since the comprehension of sweet sound is our most indefinite conception.Music, when combined with a pleasurable idea, is poetry; music without the idea is simply music; the idea without the music is prose from its very definitiveness.What was meant by the invective against him who had no music in his soul? ”（彭贵菊251）
For example, in “Annabel Lee,” each of the six stanzas contains alternate four and three stress lines, the basic rhythm pattern being anapestic, with frequent iambic substitutions, thus:
It was manly and manly 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.
Meanwhile, Poe uses insistent repetitions for effect.The girl’s name and phrases like “in this kingdom by the sea” are refrains like the insistent tolling of a bell.In “Annabel Lee,” the poet selects the distinctive modulate, so it sounds like the flow and ebb of tide.Sometimes it is full of terrifying waves, sometimes it keeps silent.So “Annabel Lee” shows high musical beauty, which releases the tension between life and death, making death easier to accept.
In a word, death as a predominant theme of Poe’s poetry produces effects of beauty instead of terror.The poems are full of melancholic beauty whether in the disturbing images of death and events beyond the grave described in “The Raven,” or in the hypnotic fantasy of works such as “The City in the Sea” and “Annabel Lee.”As a result, these poems stimulate in the reader perceptions of aesthetic beauty.
Notes:
[1]桂杨清，吴翔林.英美文学选读[M].北京:中国对外翻译出版公司,1997.316.
[2]曹明伦译.爱伦·坡[M].北京: 三联书店，1995.
[3]According to my computation, in Poe’s poems,
The word of death appears directly in: “Al Aaraaf,” “The City in the Sea,” “The Lake—To,” “Lenore,” “Spirits of the Dead,” “Tamerlane,” “To Helen,” “To My Mother.”
The word of dying appears directly in: “The Raven,” “Serenade,” “Tamerlane.”
The word of dead appears directly in: “Bridal Ballad,” “The City in the Sea,” “Dreamland,” “For Annie,” “Lenore,” “The Sleeper,” “Spirits of the Dead,” “Tamerlane,” “To M—.”The word of sleep appears directly in: “Al Aaraaf,” “Fairy–land,” “Serenade,” “The Sleeper,” “To—.”
[4]The star can also be a symbol for human life. Thus, the dimming stars can be interpreted as a coming end of the journey of life.
[5]http:/www.nadn.navy.mil/Englishept/poeperplex/poems.htm