Question

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 that 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 sepulchre In this kingdom by the sea. Describe the foreshadowing in the poem. What are the effects of the foreshadowing in this poem? Use evidence from the poem to defend your answer.

Answer 1

In this poem, the author employs foreshadowing. Foreshadowing refers to a literary device in which a writer gives the reader a hint of what is to come next in the story. In this example, Poe talks about Annabel Lee, and he tells us the angels in heaven were jealous of the love the lovers felt for each other. He also tells us that Annabel Lee received a chilling wind. These hints suggest that Annabel Lee will die. The effect of this foreshadowing is that it allows suspense to be built in the mind of the reader, pulling him deeper into the story.