This maiden, Annabel Lee

It is unclear whether the eponymous character Annabel Lee referred to a real person. Frances Sargent Osgood, a poet who exchanged poems with Poe, expressed her belief that "Annabel Lee" was written for Poe's wife Virginia Clemm (who had died two years prior), while other critics, including T.O. Mabbott, believed that it was the product of Poe's gloomy imagination and that Annabel Lee was no real person in particular. A childhood sweetheart of Poe's named Sarah Elmira Royster believed the poem was written with her in mind. Sarah Helen Whitman and Sarah Anna Lewis also claimed to have inspired the poem.

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