please help me on my homework please! this is a poem about Annabel Lee written by Edgar Allen Poe

Annabel Lee by Edgar Allen Poe:

it was many and many a yw are ago,
in the kingdom by the sea,
that a maiden there loved 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 ans she (< Italicized) was a child,
in this kingdom by the sea:
we with 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 the kingdom by the sea,
a wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
my beautiful Annabel Lee;
so that her highborn kinsmen came
And bored her away from me,
to shut her up in a sepulcher
in a kingdom by the sea.

the angels, not only 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 ot 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 ,
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 Lee down by the side
of my darling - my darling - my life and my bride,
in the sepulcher there by the sea,
in her tomb by the sounding sea.

question #5 states
5) were you surprised when you discovered where the speaker sleeps each night? ( already answered). Do you think he actually sleeps there, or is he speaking of what he does in his imagination? Explain ( this need help). Please help me if you can!

Yes I think he actually sleeps there because throughout the whole poem he talks about how he loves this girl an how beautiful she is. Also by the other Edgar Allen Poe poems and stories I've read by him he seems to talk about death and is very literal about it.

Answer Link

diene diene · Answer 2 · 2015-01-19T00:04:22-05:00

There is evidence for both views (that he sleeps there, or that it's his imagination) and I'll write them here.
a. He actually sleeps in his love's tomb because Annabel Lee was the only person he cared about, and her loss actually drove him crazy, so he has to spend every night with her. He can't bear being separated from Annabel Lee, "my darling - my darling - my life and my bride," so he lies down by her side every night. Also, they were children when they first fell in love, so after Annabel's death, his mind might have stayed a child's mind, and become so demented that he has to sleep in her sepulcher. In his demented mind, he believes that Annabel is still alive, and that he goes to sleep with her every night.

b. He doesn't sleep in Annabel Lee's sepulcher; it's cold and dark in there! This is from his imagination because the lines before it are all figurative (dreaming of Annabel, and seeing her bright eyes in the stars). The symbolic meaning of lying down by her tomb means that he wants to always stay by her side, and die when she dies (when he lies down in a tomb, it symbolizes him dying). This powerful metaphor emphasizes the poet's undying devotion and love toward Annabel Lee.