The 19th Century Poem That Prompted Stevie Nicks to Write “Annabel Lee” at the Age of 17

On October 9, 1849, just two days after Edgar Allan Poe died, the final poem he wrote before his death was released. “Annabel Lee” told the story of a young love cut short. In their youth (I was a child and she was a child), they shared a mutual commitment, romanticized in Poe’s words, his maiden in the kingdom by the sea, who likely met her fate by the hand of a celestial being.

Like many of Poe’s poems depicting women who died young—”Lenore,” “To My Mother,” “Eulalie,” “To Helen,” and others—”Annabel Lee” was likely a reflection on the death of his wife, Virginia Eliza Clemm, in 1842 from tuberculosis when she was 24.

The poem was a favorite of a teenage Stevie Nicks, who was assigned to read poetry in school and instantly connected to Poe’s words and heroine. “I remember sitting on my bed, in my mom and dad’s house,” said Nicks, “writing that song and being so overwhelmed with the romanticism of it.”

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‘In a Kingdom by the Sea’

Nick’s lyrics are slightly altered from Poe’s original poem, yet her adaptation mirrors his storyline of a brave young woman who ultimately leaves him by the end.

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.

Nicks

It was many and many a year ago

In a kingdom by the sea

That a maiden lived

Whom you may know

By the name of Annabel Lee

This maiden, she lived

With no other thought

Than to love and be loved by me

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Poe

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

Nicks

She was a child and I was a child

In this kingdom by the sea

We loved with a love

That was more than a love

I and my Annabel Lee

With a love that the winged

Angels of heaven

They coveted her and me

‘In Your Dreams’

“Did you know that I wrote a song with Edgar Allan Poe in the 1800s?” Nicks often sas to fans before performing “Annabel Lee” live. Though Nicks originally wrote the song when she was 17, she didn’t release it until decades later on her 2011 album In Your Dreams.

“It’s just lived in my head since I was 17,” said Nicks of the song. “I didn’t record it until 10 years ago. We found the demo and I’m not sure why I didn’t put it in ‘Trouble in Shangri-La’ (2001), but I guess things got misplaced.”

Produced by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, the midtempo “Annabel Lee” delivers a hauntingly fitting revival of the Poe classic. “Dave and Glen loved it, so we recorded it,” added Nicks. “It’s all my song except they wrote this 30-second English minuet thing that goes in the middle that is very ‘Annabel Lee’-esque. That was a good song without Dave, but with Dave and my musical director and lead guitarist Waddy Wachtel—between all of them—they wrote this amazingly beautiful little piece of music.”

Photo: Fin Costello/Redferns