Annabel Lee

“Many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea, there lived a maiden whose name was Annabel Lee.”

A poem by Edgar Allan Poe

This reader retells Edgar Allan Poe's haunting poem 'Annabel Lee,' first published in 1849, shortly after the poet's death. Poe was an American writer famous for his tales of mystery and the macabre. The poem tells the story of a boy's undying love for a girl taken from him by death. Many readers believe Poe wrote it in memory of his own young wife, Virginia, who died at the age of twenty-four. The poem is worth a child's time because it shows how powerful love can be—so powerful that it outlasts even death itself—and because Poe's language, full of rhythm and repetition, makes the story unforgettable. This text reflects its era.

Band

Green · Independent readers, earlyTypical starting range: ages 9–11

Length

medium · about 818 words in 4 sections · 3 pictures

Source

The Complete Poetical Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Edgar Allan Poe

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (10 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script
• · Teacher’s Edition (members)

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.

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