Power and Love in Allan Poe's poem "Annabel Lee"

 In Nabokov's Lolita, Humbert reminisces about his childhood love, Annabel Leigh, expressing that " [they] were madly, clumsily, shamelessly, agonizingly in love with each other". This is a clear allusion to the female character in Allan Poe's poem "Annabel Lee", which stands for true and pure love. However, in both works, Annabel becomes an object of extreme, but unfulfilled desire, because of obstacles that render the male lover powerless. This essay will analyse how the theme of obsession is portrayed, in the poem, in relation to both love and power.

The persona is obsessed with Annabel as he not only dehumanizes her, but also romanticizes their toxic love. The poem begins in the fashion of a fairytale, as "it was many and many a year ago, [i]n a kingdom by the sea" that it takes place. This genre is famous for its depiction of false or dream like reality, which appeals to the speaker's imagination as he identifies as a "child". Indeed, Annabel is portrayed as a flat character," liv[ing] with no other thought [t]han to love and be loved by [him].This hyperbole not only denotes the dependency of Lee's whole consciousness on the persona's love, but also implies that, in the absence of that very love, she becomes but a  corpse. After her death, the speaker "lie[s] down by the side" of  her tomb, and calls her: "my darling-my life and my bride", revealing his intense hyperfixation. Although Annabel is deseased, the speaker imagines themselves laying side by side, while he flirts with her, mirroring the act of consummating one's marriage. Further, in his interpretation of the poem, Nabokov goes beyond its ending, illustrating how Humbert's fixation on Annabel evolves into abject pedophilia, as he attempts to recreate the same toxic love, and fulfill a once deferred desire.

The persona is obsessed with power, as he is not only monomaniac, but also challenges the hierarchical order of his kingdom and beyond. Annabel Lee is not identified, first, by her name, but by the noun: "maiden". Indeed, she is portrayed as an unmarried girl, an object to be seized and earned by a man. The male lover uses the pronoun "my" multiple times when mentioning his lover, which indicates that she is something that he owns, rather than his equal. Moreover, on her own , Annabel is always acted upon, as she is "bore... away" and "shut...up". However, when she is referred to together with the male persona, he says : "our love it was [strong]" and "the angels... Went envying her and me", positioning himself as her source of empowerment. Furthermore, according to John Ingram's biography of Allan Poe, the latter wrote "my whole nature utterly revolts at the idea that there is any being in the universe superior to myself",which shows the poet's superiority complex that perhaps influenced his writing. The speaker seems to villainize the "high-born kinsmen" because they "came and bore her away from [him]". His focus on their social class, and blaming them for separating the two lovers  seems to stem from his jealousy and envy. He later on compares his love to the love of "those who were older" and "far wiser", reflecting his desire to be superior to all humans. Moreover, the angels "coveted" them, and the demons wanted to "dissever" his soul from hers. Although, in Christianity, the seraphs' role is to circulate the throne and keep praising God, they appear to be distracted by him and Lee. This image of the highest ranking angels sharing the same goal of separating the lovers as the vile demons disrupts the hierarchical order of heaven and hell, rendering the persona infinitely powerful in the process. 

In conclusion, the speaker in Allan Poe's poem "Annabel Lee" is obsessed with both love and power. First, he fixates on the idea of the perfect Annabel, and extremely idealizes their love. Second, the persona is obsessed with power, as he portrays Annabel as a possession to be owned, and also challenges hierarchies in both the material and spiritual worlds.