"Annabel Lee" was probably composed in May 1849. Poe took steps to ensure that the poem would be seen in print. He gave a copy to Rufus Wilmot Griswold, his literary executor and personal rival, gave another copy to John Thompson to repay a $5 debt, and sold a copy to "Sartain's Union Magazine" for publication. Though "Sartain's" was the first authorized printing in January 1850, Griswold was the first to publish it on October 9, 1849, two days after Poe's death as part of his obituary of Poe in the Horace Greeley newspaper the "New-York Daily Tribune". Thompson had it published in the "Southern Literary Messenger" in November 1849.