Half in heaven

Posted by Baceseras on June 14, 2007

In Reply to: Half in heaven posted by Katie on June 14, 2007

: What does this mean? I have a pretty good idea but my drama teacher doesn't believe me :( -

: Ok, it's out of one of Edger Allan Poe's pieces, Annabel Lee, and this is the line - 'the angels not half so in heaven. the not half so happy'. What does it mean... are they really happy or not happy?

You have misquoted the line from Poe. It should be: "the angels not half so happy in heaven went envying her and me" --- "so" is a sometime variant for "as". Paraphrasing: "The angels, not half as happy in heaven as she and I were on earth, envied us...."