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Edgar Allan Poe — “Annabel Lee”






Texts and Variant Texts

Reading copy:
  • “Annabel Lee” — reading copy (copy-text is based on Text 00)

Manuscripts and Authorized Printings:
  • "Annabel Lee" — late May 1849 — "Griswold" manuscript — Text 01
    • "Annabel Lee" — late May 1849 — "Griswold" manuscript  (Mabbott text A)  (This is Mabbott's first copytext for the poem)
    • "Annabel Lee" — October 9, 1849 — New-York Daily Tribune  (The "Ludwig" obituary)  (Mabbott text G)
    • "Annabel Lee" — late 1849 — Poets and Poetry of America (10th edition, dated 1850)  (Mabbott text J)
    • "Annabel Lee" — 1850 — WORKS —  (Mabbott text L)
  • "Annabel Lee" — June 1849 — "Moore" manuscript — Text 02  (Mabbott text B)
  • "Annabel Lee" — July 1849 — "Hirst" manuscript — Text 03  (Mabbott text C)
  • "Annabel Lee" — July 1849 — "Sartain" manuscript — Text 04
    • "Annabel Lee" — July 1849 — "Sartain" manuscript — (Mabbott text D)
    • "Annabel Lee" — January 1850 — Sartain's — (Mabbott text K)
  • "Annabel Lee" — about September 1849 — Richmond Examiner — Text 05  (Mabbott text F)
  • "Annabel Lee" — September 26, 1849 — "Thompson" manuscript — Text 06
    • "Annabel Lee" — September 26, 1849 — "Thompson" manuscript —  (Mabbott text E)  (This is Mabbott's second copytext for the poem)
    • "Annabel Lee" — November 1849 — Southern Literary Messenger — (Mabbott text H)

Reprints:

This poem was widely reprinted in October 1849 as part of an obituary for Poe. Both "Annabel Lee" and "The Bells" were alternately given the status of "Poe's last poem," although the last poems actually composed appear to have been "Annabel Lee" and "Sonnet to My Mother."
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 13, 1849 — Gazette of the Union, Golden Rule, and Odd Fellow's Family Companion
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 13, 1849 — Literary World, New York
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 13, 1849 — McMakin's Model American Courier, Philadephia, PA
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 13, 1849 — Richmond Enquirer, Richmond, VA
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 16, 1849  — New-York Tribune (California edition)
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 16, 1849 — Troy Post, Troy, NY
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 18, 1849 — Boston Emancipator and Republican, Boston, MA
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 18, 1849 — Lynchburg Virginian, Lynchburg, VA (reprinted as part of the "Ludwig" obituary from the Tribune)
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 19, 1849 — Tri-Weekly American, Lowell, MA  (Reprinted from NY Tribune)
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 20, 1849 — Home Journal  (Reprinted in N. P. Willis's article "The Death of Poe," in quoting from the "Ludwig" obituary from the Tribune)
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 20, 1849 — Albion, New York, NY
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 20, 1849 — Gem of the Prairie, Chicago, IL
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 20, 1849  — New-York Weekly Tribune
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 22, 1849 — Rochester Democrat, Rochester, NY
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 23, 1849 — Evening Mirror (NY)
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 23, 1849 — New York Republican, Troy, NY
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 24, 1849 — Dollar Newspaper (Philadelphia))  (reprinted as part of the "Ludwig" obituary from the Tribune)
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 27, 1849 — Boston Weekly Museum and Literary Portfolio (reprinted as part of an obituary from the New York Metropolis)
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 29, 1849 — New Orleans Weekly Delta, New Orleans, LA
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 29, 1849 — Daily Toledo Blade, Toledo, OH
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 31, 1849 — Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 31, 1849 — Marysville Tribune, Marysville, OH  (probably reprinted from NY Tribune)
  • "Annabel Lee" — November 1849 — Western Literary Messenger, Buffalo, NY (published by Calvin F. S. Thomas)
  • "Annabel Lee" — November 1, 1849 — Pittsfield Sun, Pittsfield, MA
  • "Annabel Lee" — November 2, 1849 — Lebanon Western Star, Lebanon, OH
  • "Annable [[Annabel]] Lee" — November 3, 1849 — Portland Transcript (ME)
  • "Annabel Lee" — November 3, 1849 — Hartford Weekly Times, Hartford, CT  (Reprinted from the New York Tribune)
  • "Annabel Lee" — November 3, 1849 — Pittsburgh Saturday Visiter, Pittsburgh, PA
  • "Annabel Lee" — November 3, 1849 — Portland Transcript, Portland, ME
  • "Annabel Lee" — November 3, 1849 — Literary Union, Syracuse, NY  (Reprinted as part of the "Ludwig" obituary)
  • "Annabel Lee" — November 7, 1849 — Painesville Telegraph, Painesville, OH
  • "Annabel Lee" — November 7, 1849 — New Hampshire Gazette and Republican Union, Portsmouth, NH
  • "[Annabel Lee]" — November 8, 1849 — Vincennes Gazette, Vincennes, IN
  • "Annabel Lee" — November 9, 1849 — Daily Chronicle and Sentinel, Augusta, GA
  • "Annabel Lee" — November 12, 1849 — Nova Scotian, Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • "Annabel Lee" — November 13, 1849 — Weekly Democrat, Chicago, IL  (by "the late E. A. Poe")
  • "Annabel Lee" — November 14, 1849 — Rome Citizen, Rome, NY
  • "Annabel Lee" — November 16, 1849 — Schenectady Reflector, Schenectady, NY
  • "Annabel Lee" — November 23, 1849 — Indiana State Weekly Journal, Indianapolis, IN
  • "Annabel Lee" — 1850 — The Present or a Gift for the Times, Manchester, New Hampshire, edited by F. A. Moore
  • "Annabel Lee" — 1850 — Thomas Powell, The Living Writers of America, New York: Stringer and Townsend, 1850, pp. 126-127
  • "Annabel Lee" — February 9, 1850 — New England Washingtonian, Boston, MA
  • "Annabel Lee" — 1853 — Thalatta: A Book for the Sea-Side, Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Field (This is a collection of poetry by various authors, from Bryant to Wordsworth, all with some kind of sea connection. This poem is the only Poe item in the collection.)
  • "Annabel Lee" — 1853 — An Offering to Beauty, Lowell: Merrill and Straw (The full title of this ornately bound book is: An Offering to Beauty: Composed of the Choicest Descriptions of Female Loveliness, Virtue, Accomplishments, Attractions, and Chams; Comprising the Poetry of Woman, edited by J. W. Hanson. Poe's poem appears on pp. 226-228.)
  • "Annabel Lee" — February 1854 — Southern Literary Messenger
  • "Annabel Lee" — February 1854 — Graham's  (reprinted in a biographical notice, pp. 216-225)
  • "Annabel Lee" — 1858 — Achievements of Americans, Cincinnati: Henry Howe  (along with "The Raven")
  • "Annabel Lee" — 1865 — Golden Leaves from the American Poets, collected by John W. S. Hows, New York: Bunce and Huntington (This common collection of popular poems includes works by Poe, Emerson, Longfellow, J. R. Lowell, F. S. Key, Whittier, and others.)
  • "Annabel Lee" — October 8, 1864  — Home Journal
  • "Annabel Lee" — 1867 — Roses and Holly, a Gift-Book for all the Year (published by J. B. Lippincott)
  • and many others
This poem is included in many collections, of which a few examples will suffice:
  • “Annabel Lee” — 1875 — The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol 3: Poems  and Essays, ed. J. H. Ingram, Edinburgh, Adam and Charles Black (3:18-19)
  • “Annabel Lee” — 1894-1895 —  The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 10: Poems, ed. G. E. Woodberry and E. C. Stedman, Chicago: Stone and Kimball (10:41-42, and 10:186)
  • “Annabel Lee” — 1902 — The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 7: Poems, ed. J. A. Harrison, New York: T. Y. Crowell (10:117-118, and 10:218-221)  (The full text of the "Griswold" manuscript is given in the notes)
  • “Annabel Lee” — 1911 — The Complete Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. J. H. Whitty, Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. (pp. 80-82, and pp. 242-244)
  • “Annabel Lee” — 1917 —  The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Killis Campbell, Boston: Ginn and Company (pp. 134-135, and pp. 293-297)
  • “Annabel Lee” — 1965 — The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Floyd Stovall, Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia (pp. 124-125, and pp. 287-290)
  • “Annabel Lee” — 1969 — The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe, vol. 1: Poems, ed. T. O. Mabbott, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (1:468-481)  (Mabbott prints two versions of the poem)

Associated Material and Special versions:
  • "[Annabel Lee]" (1857 — "Edgar Allan Poe," Magazin für die Literatur des Auslandes, 130:519-520.)  (German translation by Luise von Ploennis.)
  • "Annabel Lee" — 1960 — a reading by Nelson Olmsted on The Raven: Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, issued on the Vanguard label (VRS-9046, rereleased as VSD-32)











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Bibliography:
  • Booth, Bradford A., "The Identity of 'Annabel Lee'," College English, October 1945, 7:17-19
  • Brown, Wallace C., "The English Professor's Dilemma," College English, April 1944, 5:380-385
  • Empric, Julienne H., "A Note on "Annabel Lee'," Poe Studies, June 1973, 6:26
  • Gross, Seymour L., "The Reflection of Conrad Aiken's 'Strange Moonlight'," Modern Language Notes, March 1957, 72:185-189
  • Heartman, Charles F. and James R. Canny, A Bibliography of First Printings of the Writings of Edgar Allan Poe, Hattiesburg, MS: The Book Farm, 1943.
  • Law, Robert A., "A Source of 'Annabel Lee'," Journal of English and Germanic Philology, October 2, 1922, 21:341-346
  • Mabbott, Thomas Ollive, ed., The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Vol 1 Poems), Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1969.
  • Melton, W. F., "Some Autobiographical Notes in Poe's Poetry," South Atlantic Quarterly, April 1912, 11:175-179
  • Routh, James, "Notes on the Sources of Poe's Poetry: Coleridge, Keats, Shelley," Modern Language Notes, March 1914, 29:72-75



 
[S:0 - JAS] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - Poems - Annabel Lee