Meter in Annabel Lee

This line is an anapest, a type of poetic meter used repeatedly throughout the poem. An anapest is a three-syllable pattern featuring two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. In “Annabel Lee,” anapestic meter creates a cadence that imitates the waves rolling in on the beach.

The rhythm of this poem, which is anapestic, seems intended to suggest that the setting is right by the sea and the waves keep rolling in with regularity, one after another. This has a soothing and lulling effect, as does the fact that it is a moonlit and starry night. The speaker is not mourning his loss but assuring himself that he and his Annabel Lee will be together throughout the eternity which is represented by the moon, the stars, and the boundless ocean.