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"The last thing written by the late Edgar A. Poe" — Annabel Lee

Published

Newspaper column headed "Poetry" with the note "The following is published as the last thing written by the late Edgar A. Poe," followed by the opening lines of "Annabel Lee," from The Mountain Sentinel, 22 November 1849.
From the preserved historical source. Follow the archive link below to inspect the original.

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…

In the weeks after Poe's death, this poem travelled from newspaper to newspaper. On 22 November 1849, The Mountain Sentinel printed it with a solemn introduction: "The following is published as the last thing written by the late Edgar A. Poe."

Was it really his last poem? That is the newspaper's claim, not a settled fact. The introduction invited readers to encounter it as a final work: a story of a love so strong that "the angels, not half so happy in heaven, went envying her and me."

If you read Friday's post, you've met this poem already: it also appeared inside the "Ludwig" obituary on 9 October.

→ Read Annabel Lee as it appeared in The Mountain Sentinel