WATCH THE OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO

Author: Edgar Allan Poe

Date of Composition: Circa May 1849

Date of Publication: October 9, 1849 (posthumously published in The New York Tribune)

Date of Recording: October 15th 2023 (posthumously tracked in Logic Pro)

Genre: Romantic Ballad / Scene Kid Pop Punk Mall Core / Gothic Poetry

well…if you incest

Annabel Lee is generally accepted as the final complete poem composed by Edgar Allan Poe, written in the closing months of his life. Though Poe left no definitive statement of intent for the work, posterity and the New York Tribune did what they often do: published it anyway. The poem emerged during what can charitably be described as a period of personal difficulty. Poe—grieving, penniless, and increasingly erratic—was experiencing a profound mental and physical unraveling. His condition, now understood as bipolar disorder, was compounded by alcohol dependency, creative exhaustion, and following up on invoices for freelance gigs.

Around this time, Poe rekindled a romantic engagement with his former fiancée, Sarah Elmira Royster, only to abruptly flee the arrangement. According to accounts, this decision led to a physical confrontation with Royster’s brothers—an episode that added yet another layer of melodrama (and head trauma) to the poet’s final chapter. Although composed under Royster’s roof, Annabel Lee is almost universally read as an elegy for Poe’s late wife—and cousin—Virginia Clemm Poe, who had died of tuberculosis in 1847. Poe himself never confirmed the connection (historians believe) because it would’ve been a “really bad look”.

Enduring Legacy

With its iconic refrain—“In a kingdom by the sea”—and its operatic blend of mourning and myth, Annabel Lee stands as a quintessential expression of American Romanticism. Its hypnotic meter and gothic preoccupation with love transcending death have ensured its place in literary and cultural memory. This 2023 adaptation transposes Poe’s lament into the aesthetic register of early-2000s pop-punk—a genre equally fixated on doomed romance and emotional spectacle. The resulting work was filmed in San Pedro, California, edited under the filename AnnabelLee_final_FINAL_v7.mov, and, perhaps most significantly, produced under the apparent influence of Poe’s specter—who continues, even in death, to haunt the bodies of struggling musicians, freelance cinematographers, and directors exporting past deadline.

It is, in its own way, exactly what he might have wanted: A ghostly return. A public lament. A catchy chorus.

"Annabel Lee" stands as the final complete poem written by Edgar Allan Poe before his death on October 7, 1849. It’s unknown whether Poe ever intended to publish this poem but 6 months after his death the New York Tribune did it anyway. Whether Edgar Allan Poe initially intended for this (or any of his works) to be set to music isn’t on record, but 176 years after his death, his specter and the creators of this video did it anyway.

The poem was written during the final months of Poe’s life, marked by struggles with his bipolar disorder, instability, addiction, poverty, debt, following up on invoices that were two years late, and really bad reviews/vibes.  Poe’s emotional landscape was deeply scarred by the death of his young wife (and cousin), Virginia Clemm Poe, who died of tuberculosis in 1847. Annabel Lee is widely interpreted as an elegy to Virginia (his cousin), though Poe never explicitly confirmed this because it wasn’t a great look. Undeniably The Work endured Poe’s death and time and here, now - Poe’s very spirit grips the frail body and vocal chords of a tiny struggling writer/musician man, the hands and shoulders of a struggling cam op, and the Adobe Premiere of a struggling director, in order that he finally enjoy the accolades of his work and present it as he always intended: as a hooky pop punk showtune (about his cousin)

Director: Tom Gault, Ben Davis

Cast: Cassie Worrell, Ike Flitcraft

Costumer: Jess Helou

Production Design: Alfonso Peterson

Production: Cody Smith, Logan Smith