Annabel Lee — Reading by Bob Dylan

Poem by Mr Edgar Allan Poe (Words changed)

I noticed whilst listening to Bob Dylan’s reading of this poem that he changes the words around here and there — I found it quite interesting.

Annabel Lee — Edgar Allan Poe (Original words)

~

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.

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.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
  In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
  My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
  And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
  In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not 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 it 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 sea
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 lie down by the side
  Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
  In her sepulchre there by the sea—
  In her tomb by the sounding sea.

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Bob Dylan’s reading from Theme Time Radio Hour episode — Women’s Names. (Painting by Bob Dylan. Fields in the Sky, 2024. Acrylic on canvas. 91.5 x 152.5 cm.)

Annabel Lee — Edgar Allan Poe (Bob Dylan’s version)

~

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.

She was a child and I was a child,   * (she and I are swapped around) 
  In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
  I and Annabel Lee—   * (no ‘my’) 
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
  Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
  In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud by night,   * (‘by night’ added)
  Chilling my Annabel Lee; *(‘chilling’ moved from the line above, & ‘beautiful’ not read)
So that her highborn kinsmen came
  And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
  In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
  When envying her and me—  
(Oh this is a long poem)* —that was the reason (as all men know,  * (‘Yes!’ taken out)
  In this kingdom by the sea)    * (Bob replaced ‘Yes!’ with his own bracketed part..?) 
That the wind came out of the cloud,    * (‘by night’ moved up to the third verse) 
  Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it 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 sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
  Of thy* beautiful Annabel Lee;     * (the)

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
  Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I see the bright eyes     * (changed ‘feel’ to ‘see’)
  Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
  Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
  In her sepulchre there by the sea—
  In her tomb by the side of the sea.      * (‘sounding’ to ‘side of’ )

---

I liked the changes Bob Dylan made here and there to this — I decided to check the original words to this after hearing Bob say mid-poem “Oh this is a long poem..” — Which I found funny considering how long many of Bob’s songs are… I was interested to see that Poe had the word ‘Yes!’ at that point of the poem (which Bob replaced with his ‘bracketed’ mid-poem remark — In the same line Poe adds a bracketed part to the poem in a similar way that Bob did.. I like how it seems Bob is almost interacting outside of time with Poe as he reads this.

The changing around of the ‘I’ and ‘She’ in the line “She was a child and I was a child,” — I prefer how the line looks and sounds the way Bob reads this. I feel like I can understand why he changed that.

The last two lines,

  In her sepulchre there by the sea—
  In her tomb by the side of the sea.  

~

I prefer this to the Poe ending - the ‘sounding sea’ — by the sea .. by the side of the sea — It seems to go well with repeated ‘Annabel Lee’ throughout the poem.

Either way, I found this interesting — how Bob Dylan changed the lines here and there.

I attempted a reading of this myself this afternoon, for anyone interested in listening — This is the Bob Dylan version of the poem ..

The painting here is a recent painting by me. Oil paint on canvas.

By the Side of the Sea. 2025.

—

Best wishes,

nightly moth.

www.nightlymothpaintings.space