“The Bells” by Edgar
Allen Poe
This is
one of my all time favorite poem by Edgar Allen Poe. I remember the first time I
was introduced to this poem it was read aloud to me I just remember thinking it
was the most melodic poem I had ever heard. All of the words form in your mouth
the way they sound, Poe constructed this poem so intentionally and beautifully
that students could work on this poem in a few different ways. This poem is so
beautifully written and has been something that I have appreciated and been obsessed
with since I had the poem read to me the first time my freshman year in
college. I realize that my students would not be as obsessed with this poem as I
am, or maybe they will be, hopefully! This poem has 4 sections, not stanzas but
sections rather, each section has a different type of bell that it is
associated with and the sections get progressively longer. This poem is one
that I would teach as apart of a poetry unit but one that I would want to spend
more time on because I think it has a lot of great insight into Poe’s style,
but it also accentuates a lot of different poetic devices. This poem would
allow for a great opportunity of analyzing a poem without having to worry about
the speaker, because this poem really does not have one. The poem does not have
a strong speaker, something that is strange for a Poe poem, he usually casts himself
in the role of the speaker, so the reader has a better understanding of Poe as
a writer. This poem explores a unique style of rhyme and meter and sound. I would
have students read this poem and try to explicate it as best they could, I think
that this poem would also provide a great opportunity to have students practice
reading poetry aloud to get a feel for the performance aspect of poetry and
literature.
I have included the poem below so
that you may read it to better understand the techniques I would want to use in
my classroom for this particular poem by Poe.
I.
Hear the sledges with
the bells--
Silver bells!
What a world of
merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle,
tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of
night!
While the stars that
oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem
to twinkle
With a crystalline
delight;
Keeping time, time,
time,
In a sort of Runic
rhyme,
To the
tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells,
bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells--
From the jingling and
the tinkling of the bells.
II.
Hear the mellow
wedding bells
Golden bells!
What a world of
happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air
of night
How they ring out
their delight!
From the
molten-golden notes,
And all in tune,
What a liquid ditty
floats
To the turtle-dove
that listens, while she gloats
On the moon!
Oh, from out the
sounding cells,
What a gush of
euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!
How it dwells
On the Future! how it
tells
Of the rapture that
impels
To the swinging and
the ringing
Of the bells, bells,
bells,
Of the bells, bells,
bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells--
To the rhyming and
the chiming of the bells!
III.
Hear the loud alarum
bells--
Brazen bells!
What tale of terror,
now, their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear
of night
How they scream out
their affright!
Too much horrified to
speak,
They can only shriek,
shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous
appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad
expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
Leaping higher,
higher, higher,
With a desperate
desire,
And a resolute
endeavor
Now--now to sit or
never,
By the side of the
pale-faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells,
bells!
What a tale their
terror tells
Of Despair!
How they clang, and
clash, and roar!
What a horror they
outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating
air!
Yet the ear, it fully
knows,
By the twanging,
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs
and flows ;
Yet, the ear
distinctly tells,
In the jangling,
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks
and swells,
By the sinking or the
swelling in the anger of the bells--
Of the bells--
Of the bells, bells,
bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells--
In the clamour and
the clangour of the bells!
IV.
Hear the tolling of
the bells--
Iron bells!
What a world of
solemn thought their monody compels!
In the silence of the
night,
How we shiver with
affright
At the melancholy
meaning of their tone!
For every sound that
floats
From the rust within
their throats
Is a groan.
And the people--ah,
the people--
They that dwell up in
the steeple,
All alone,
And who, tolling,
tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so
rolling
On the human heart a
stone--
They are neither man
nor woman--
They are neither
brute nor human--
They are Ghouls:--
And their king it is
who tolls ;
And he rolls, rolls,
rolls, rolls,
Rolls
A pæan from the
bells!
And his merry bosom
swells
With the pæan of the
bells!
And he dances, and he
yells ;
Keeping time, time,
time,
In a sort of Runic
rhyme,
To the pæan of the
bells--
Of the bells :
Keeping time, time,
time,
In a sort of Runic
rhyme,
To the throbbing of
the bells--
Of the bells, bells,
bells--
To the sobbing of the
bells ;
Keeping time, time,
time,
As he knells, knells,
knells,
In a happy Runic
rhyme,
To the rolling of the
bells--
Of the bells, bells,
bells--
To the tolling of the
bells,
Of the bells, bells,
bells, bells--
Bells, bells, bells--
To the moaning and
the groaning of the bells.
