Using Literature in the Language Classroom: Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe

Elif Ebru Suna Çelikbaş and Carol Griffiths, Turkey

Elif Ebru Suna Çelikbaş graduated from the English Language Teaching Departmentin Istanbul, Turkey. She worked at private institutions as an EFL teacher with students from different proficiency levels and grades (primary and middle schools). She is currently working on her Master’s thesis in English Language Teaching.

Dr Carol Griffiths, Associate Professor, Istanbul, Turkey, has taught in many places around the world. She has also published widely and presented at many conferences. The use of literature to teach language is a major professional and research interest

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Teacher’s guidelines
Student’s worksheet
Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe

Teacher’s guidelines

A poem is an authentic source of language for students. Especially if the topic is love, poems are good sources which express emotions, imagination, ideas, and sometimes real life experiences. Poems may be challenging in terms of structure, but they are useful with regard to length, vocabulary and literary devices. The following lesson plan is an example of how to integrate a poem into an English language class. It may be advisable to use this lesson plan with teenagers and adults because the topic and the language of the poem may not be appealing for children and the structure may also be somewhat diffiicult.

1. Speaking: Before handing out the text, talk about the speaking questions in the students’ worksheet. It may be a good idea to give other examples from literature or your own experience. Or you might ask some students to share their experience, although care may be required, as it can be a sensitive topic for some. Pair or group work can also be useful, especially for those who might be shy of exposing their feelings on such a topic in front of a class, or who are generally uneasy about performing in front of an audience.

2. Listening: Before giving students the listening text, which is about the life of the poet, get students to listen. After students have listened, ask them to answer the questions which are related to the text. The listening text can be read by the teacher or it can be a recording either by the teacher (which offers the opportunity to correct any problems before presenting it to the class) or some other person (such as a native speaker if available). Some of the vocabulary in the listening text or the questions may need explanation depending on the level of your students (e.g. pseudonym, anonymously, posthumously). Students must not see the listening text while they are listening because otherwise it would turn out to be a reading activity.

Listening text

Born in Boston in 1809, Poe was the second child of two actors. His father abandoned the family in 1810, when Poe was just a year old, and his mother died the following year, leaving him an orphan. He was taken in by John and Frances Allan, of Richmond, Virginia, although they never formally adopted him. Tension developed later as John Allan and Edgar repeatedly clashed over debts, including those incurred by gambling, and the cost of secondary education. Poe attended the University of Virginia for one semester but left due to lack of money. Poe quarreled with Allan over the money for his education and enlisted in the Army in 1827 under a pseudonym. It was at this time that he began his publishing career with an anonymous collection of poems. "Annabel Lee" is the last complete poem composed by him. Like many of Poe's poems, it explores the theme of the death of a beautiful woman. The poet, who fell in love with Annabel Lee when they were both young, has a love for her so strong that even angels are envious. He continues to love her even after her death. There has been debate over who was the inspiration for "Annabel Lee". Though many women have been suggested, Poe's wife Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe is perhaps the most likely. “Anabelle Lee” was not published until shortly after Poe's death in 1849.
Adapted from Wikipedia, May, 2016

Teacher’s answer key to listening

1. Poe’s parents were writers. (False)
2. Poe left the school due to lack of money. (True)
3. Poe enlisted in the army in 1827. (True)
4. He joined the army under a false name (True)
5. He used his own name when he published his first poems (False)
6. “Annabel Lee” was his only complete poem. (False)
7. Virginia Poe is certainly the inspiration for “Annbel Lee”. (False)
8. “Anabell Lee” was published posthumously (True)

3. Reading: Hand out a copy of the poem to the students. They can read it by themselves; or they can read it out loud one by one; or they can listen to the teacher reading. Probably a good idea is to find a spoke version of the poem on the internet and play it to the students, since poetry depends heavily on the sound, and there are many excellent professional readers who can help to bring a poem alive in a way that is not possible from silent reading or even from a non-expert reader.

4. Comprehension: It is very important that students understand a poem, and comprehension questions can be a way of checking for this

Teacher’s Answer Key to Comprehension

1. Where did Anabell Lee and the poet live?
   In a kingdom by the sea,
2. When did Annabel Lee and the poet’s love start?
   When they were children.
3. Who captured Annabel Lee and took her where?
   Her kinsmen – to a sepulchre
4. Why did Annabel Lee die ?
   Because of cold
5. How does the poet view their souls?
   Their souls can’t be separated from each other.
6. How does the poet feel after the death of Annabel Lee?
   He felt hopeless and unhappy.

5. Vocabulary: Students should try to guess the meaning of words from the context. If teachers think other words in the poem might be problematic for their students, these words can easily be added.

Teacher’s Answer Key to Vocabulary

6. Pronunciation: Get the students to pronounce the words you have chosen for the vocabulary part. Pay special attention to the silent “b” in “tomb” and the “ph” in “seraph”

7. Grammar / Literary devices: It is hard to prepare the grammar part for a poem, since, by its nature, a poem often takes liberties with what might be called “correct” grammar. But still you can prepare word formation exercises for the grammar part, ideally aimed to practice whatever the class has recently been doing.

Teacher’s Answer Key to Grammar

1. I want to have a _______ (live) without regrets. -life
2. Everybody wants a _______ (love) husband/wife. -lovely
3. I don’t have enough _______ (strong) to lift this bag. - strength
4. Love without _______ (feel) is not love. - feeling
5. Police arrested the _______ (kill) last night. -killer
6. I am ________ (envying) of her nice clothes. - envious

If you wish to concentrate more on literary devices than on grammar, there are a number that you could draw attention to, e.g.

1. Anaphora (repetition - e.g. “I was a child and she was a child”, “we loved with a love that was more than love”, “dissever my soul from the soul” etc.)
2. Internal rhyme (e.g. “chilling and killing”, “the moon never beams without bringing me dreams”, etc.)
3. Alliteration (e.g. “half so happy in Heaven”, “demons down under”, “wiser than we”, “sepulchre by the sea”, “sounding sea” etc.)
4. Assonance (e.g. “night-tide”, “life/bride” etc.)

8. Writing: Ask students to write an essay on a related topic, or to answer questions you prepared for them, or those in the speaking section. It would be great if the teacher gives options for the writing part so that students can choose among them.

Student’s worksheet

1. Speaking

1. Do you think love always hurts ? Why ?
2. Have you ever seen a person who died or suffered because s/he was in love?
3. Do you believe in “love at first sight”?

2. Listening: Listen to the passage and say if the following statements are true or false.

1. Poe’s parents were writers.
2. Poe left the school due to lack of money.
3. Poe enlisted in the army in 1827.
4. He joined the army under a false name
5. He used his own name when he published his first poems
6. “Annabel Lee” was his only complete poem.
7. Virginia Poe is certainly the inspiration for “Annbel Lee”.
8. “Anabell Lee” was published posthumously

3. Comprehension: Read the poem and answer the questions.

1. Where did Anabell Lee and the poet live?
2. When did Annabel Lee and the poet’s love start?
3. Who captured Annabel Lee and took her where?
4. Why did Annabel Lee die ?
5. How does the poet view their souls?
6. How does the poet feel after the death of Annabel Lee?

4. Vocabulary: Choose the meaning of the following words.

5. Pronunciation: Check how the words in the vocabulary list are pronounced.

1. Maiden
2. Kinsmen
3. Sepulchre
4. Chilling
5. Tomb
6. Coveted
7. Seraph

6. Grammar: Put the correct form of the words from the poem into the spaces.

1. I want to have a _______ (live) without regrets.
2. Everybody wants a _______ (love) husband/wife.
3. I don’t have enough _______ (strong) to lift this bag.
4. Love without _______ (feel) is not love.
5. Police arrested the _______ (kill) last night.
6. I am ________ (envying) of her nice clothes

7. Literary devices: Find the following literary devices in the poem

1. Anaphora (repetition)
2. Internal rhyme
3. Alliteration (repetition of initial consonants)
4. Assonance (repetition of vowel sounds)

8. Writing: Choose one of the topics and write an essay.

1. Why do you think “Annabel Lee” was not published until Poe’s death?
2. Was it a coincidence he died shortly after he wrote “Annabel Lee”?
3. According to a well-known song by the Beatles, “Love is all you need”. Do you agree?

Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan 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 that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd 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.

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 sep1ulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

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