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Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven”

Readers of “Annabel Lee” should definitely compare the poem to “The Raven,” which features a similar though distinct use of repetition to powerful effect.

Poe’s Short Stories

It seems intrinsically of interest to link the stories to the poems. Poe, of course, was well known for both his verse and his stories, but today he’s specially regarded as one of the chief architects of the modern short story. Readers will find in the stories a similar preoccupation with death, regret, and longing.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

Poe admired Hawthorne and reviewed his work favorably. Like Poe’s poem, Hawthorne’s novel presents a blend of psychological insight and supernatural intervention.

Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

Although very different in many ways from “Annabel Lee,” it could be worth linking the poem to Melville’s great novel. The writers were contemporaries and in touch with a milieu of writers touched by the American reception of Romanticism. But more specifically, they both wrote about characters with a tendency toward obsessive compulsiveness.

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