~~~ Annabel Lee ~~~

by Edgar Allen Poe

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 which 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 kinsmen 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 her sepulcher there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Edgar Allan Poe

(a short biography)

Edgar Allen Poe was the child of an actress and an actor ... Elizabeth Arnold Poe, and David Poe, Jr. He was born January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts.

His mother died rather tragically when Edgar was only two years old. The young Edgar Allen went to live with his godfather, John Allen, and his wife.

In 1815, his godfather sent him to England and Scotland to begin his classical education.

When he returned to Richmond, Virginia in the United States, he studied Greek, Latin, French, Spanish and Italian ... He did well, but while at the university, he gambled so excessively, that John Allen discontinued his collage education.

After returning to Richmond, he was devastated to find his girlfriend, Elmira Royster, engaged to another man ... He left home once more, this time going to Boston where he published a pamphlet of poems entitled Tamerlane and Other

He soon found that publishing small works did not bring in the amount of money he had gotten used to living with. Because of his financial shortcomings, he decided to join the army under a false name. Edgar A. Perry ... When his foster mother died, John Allen then purchased a release for him from the army, and helped to get him appointed at a United States Military Academy at West Point ... Before leaving for military school, he published Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems. Shortly after, Edgar Allen got expelled from West Point for being absent from all drills and classes for a straight week.

In 1835, Edgar Allen Poe became the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond and made a name for himself as a critical reviewer.

Then, in his mid-twenties, Poe fell in love with his 13 year old cousin, Virginia, and married her. His poem, "To My Mother", was really written to Virginia's mother, Mrs. Maria Clemm, now his aunt/mother-in-law.

Poe did not drink often, but when he did he drank a lot. Usually his drinking was in a public place, and he had a habit of making a scene ... As a result, he was fired from his job as editor because of this. At this point in his life many people began thinking he was also a drug addict, but actually he had a brain lesion. It was this illness that was responsible for his fevered dreams and intense nightmares.

Poe went on to write for and edit many papers and magazines. He was published often, and his name became more and more dominant in the world of literature.

During 1845 Edgar and a famous, yet older poet, Frances Sargent Locke Osgood, began a rather close relationship. His young wife, Virginia, didn't object.

His wife, Virginia, died in January of 1847 ... A year later, Poe left for Providence, Rhode Island to pursue another poet, Sarah Ellen Whitman ... They were engaged briefly; it seems he had many close platonic relationships with a great multitude of women, of whom he seemed to favor poets.

In 1849, Poe returned to Richmond where he was reunited with his lost love Elmira. She had been widowed, and he finally got engaged to he. And notwithstanding, even after finding the love of his life, he had yet another relationship with a poet by the name of Susan Archer Talley.

On October 7, 1849 ... Edgar Allen toasted a lady's birthday in Baltimore ... For the rest of the night he began to drink heavily. He died that day. Many believe his heart was weak and couldn't take the stress of over indulgence in alcohol ... Yet officially he died of: "excessive nervous prostration affecting the brain" or lobar pneumonia. Poe was buried in West Minister Presbyterian church yard in Baltimore.

NOTE ... What particularly interests me is how it is possible for an artist, of which there are so many examples, having experienced so much adversity, to be able to rise above his situation, and go on to write the poem, "Annabel Lee".

~~~ Flower in the Crannied Wall ~~~

by Lord Alfred Tennyson

Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower - but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what G-d and man is.

Another Poem For Your Consideration

Of course not my favorite, but where was I going to put it?

Don't you wish when life is bad,
And things just don't compute,
That all we really had to do,
Was stop and hit reboot?

Things would all turn out ok,
life could be so sweet,
If we had those special keys,
Ctrl and Alt Delete.

Your boss is mad your bills not paid,
Your wife, well she's just mute,
Just stop and hit those wonderful keys,
That make it all reboot.

You'd like to have another job,
You fear living in the street.
You solve it all and start anew,
Ctrl and Alt Delete.

In her sepulcher there by the sea ... ... In her tomb by the sounding sea.
And back to our ... Navigator ... master directory.