My favorite rendition of the poem "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allen Poe

For this post, I was instructed to find my favourite version of the poem "Annabel Lee". After watching a few recitals and visual interpretations I discerned that my preferred version was the following video:

There were a few reasons why I felt this recitation has successfully captured the essence of Poe's dark romantic poem. Firstly, I thought the soft and smooth sound of the speaker's voice complemented the poems narration of the ocean excellently. The soothing yet melancholic nature of her voice builds the eerie atmosphere. The second aspect that I appreciated was the pace that the speaker chooses. She maintained a uniform pace throughout the beginning and middle of the poem that reflected a storytelling-like narration. Towards the end of the recitation, the speaker makes the decision to increase the length of the pauses. By doing so the narrative effortlessly changes to that of an emotional mourning lover.  Another element of this video that contributed to the atmosphere was the sound of gentle waves playing in the background of the speaker. The crashing of waves built the image of Poe’s character lying sorrowfully next to his lost lovers' sepulchre by the sea. Moreover, the steady pacing of the waves acted like a metronome for the pace of the speaker's voice. Maintaining the steady flow throughout the beginning and middle of the poem; and enhancing the speaker’s choice of elongating the pauses between the lines in the latter end of the recitation. Finally, I considered the effect of using a female speaker as an intriguing choice for the poem. As in the poem, the speaker seems to be a male. By using a female as the speaker, perhaps this rendition is insinuating that the poem is being read by Annabel Lee in the afterlife. In conclusion, I feel that this rendition of “Annabel Lee” portrayed the gothic and dark romantic aspects of Edgar Allen Poe’s literature admirably.