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The Bells
The classic poem by Edgar Allen Poe
54 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 1849
9 people are currently reading
414 people want to read
About the author
Edgar Allan Poe
9,791 books28.7k followersThe name Poe brings to mind images of murderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. His works have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and The Fall of the House of Usher. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes short stories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of essays and book reviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovator in the science fiction genre, but he made his living as America’s first great literary critic and theoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his haunting lyric poetry.
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
Just as the bizarre characters in Poe’s stories have captured the public imagination so too has Poe himself. He is seen as a morbid, mysterious figure lurking in the shadows of moonlit cemeteries or crumbling castles. This is the Poe of legend. But much of what we know about Poe is wrong, the product of a biography written by one of his enemies in an attempt to defame the author’s name.
The real Poe was born to traveling actors in Boston on January 19, 1809. Edgar was the second of three children. His other brother William Henry Leonard Poe would also become a poet before his early death, and Poe’s sister Rosalie Poe would grow up to teach penmanship at a Richmond girls’ school. Within three years of Poe’s birth both of his parents had died, and he was taken in by the wealthy tobacco merchant John Allan and his wife Frances Valentine Allan in Richmond, Virginia while Poe’s siblings went to live with other families. Mr. Allan would rear Poe to be a businessman and a Virginia gentleman, but Poe had dreams of being a writer in emulation of his childhood hero the British poet Lord Byron. Early poetic verses found written in a young Poe’s handwriting on the backs of Allan’s ledger sheets reveal how little interest Poe had in the tobacco business.
For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_al...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews
November 17, 2025
While it’s not as epic as The Raven or some of Poe’s other poems, this one is quite melodical and the beat truly nearly sounds like tolling bells, which I found to be very clever writing.
July 25, 2021
نحن الراحلون الي نهاية العمر؛ و الأعوام ارقام
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 menace 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,
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 menace 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,
April 22, 2021
"The bells" ("Las campanas") es uno de los poemas más hermosos de Edgar Allan Poe, junto con "El cuervo", "Eldorado", "Solo" y "Ulalume". La aliteración utilizada para el poema (si lo leemos en inglés) es maravillosa.
Poe decía que las palabras debían ser "el eco del sonido".
Uno lee el poema y "siente, escucha" el tañido de las campanas, que van aumentando su intesidad. El poema comienza con pequeñas campanitas risueñas para terminar con el lúgubre tañido de las campanas fúnebres. Una tarde de 1848, la poetisa Sarah Helen Whitman con quien Poe coqueteaba, le propuso escribir un poema pero él le dijo que no estaba inspirado para nada, entonces ella escribió los primeros versos.
Poe transformó el resto en algo hermoso.
Poe decía que las palabras debían ser "el eco del sonido".
Uno lee el poema y "siente, escucha" el tañido de las campanas, que van aumentando su intesidad. El poema comienza con pequeñas campanitas risueñas para terminar con el lúgubre tañido de las campanas fúnebres. Una tarde de 1848, la poetisa Sarah Helen Whitman con quien Poe coqueteaba, le propuso escribir un poema pero él le dijo que no estaba inspirado para nada, entonces ella escribió los primeros versos.
Poe transformó el resto en algo hermoso.
December 5, 2015
Bells,Bells,Bells. Remarkable how the atmosphere changes from cheerly to dark.
October 27, 2023
Ha estado bien. Un bonito poema sobre las campanas que marcan el son de momentos muy importantes en nuestra vida, como son una boda o un funeral.
May 18, 2023
✩ 4.5 stars
September 1, 2017
The most POe-ish thing I've ever read, and heard, and read again, and heard over and over again.
Yes, it's that addictive.
Yes, it's that addictive.
June 25, 2024
A beautiful poem that makes ugly noises. I enjoyed this a lot.
February 8, 2022
I had most of this poem memorized back in 6th grade or so, and it still remains one of my favorites. It has the classic Poe flavor while maintaining an absolutely brilliant use of rhythm, alliteration, and imagery. The way it sounds makes me happy. ☺️
April 20, 2015
I know people who stay away from Poe due to his dark style, but he is a genius with poetic structure and mood. Here I love how he writes the soundless stars linked to the sound of bells through rhymes. The rich musicality of his phrases describe the sounds of bells better than maybe the real sounds of bells. He even uses “word sounds” that are repeated to give a sense of discord. Amazingly, he even shifts the mood at times, such as in Section II when he goes from childish merriment of sleigh bells to wedding bells of mature love. Harmony is conveyed in brilliant words like “molten-golden”. Then once more it shifts drastically at the ending. Read it aloud for the sound as well as the beautiful aesthetic of the poetry and evolving emotional tone.
November 9, 2018
In this poem Poe shows he is not all dark, brooding, and sinister. There can be light too. He molds his words to reflect the bells, their rhythm, their rhyme, their joy and grief, elation and panic. It is, in a way, beautiful.
August 24, 2012
I'm completely in love with this poem!! I just read it and then I read it again while listening to it in librivox and I can't believe how powerful this poem is! I found Poe amazing when I started reading his stories but now that I read this poem he has instantly become my favourite:D Here's the link for the recording, I found the person reading it amazingly good: http://ia700403.us.archive.org/28/ite...
November 1, 2014
Love this poem every time
August 27, 2015
bells. bells. bells.
January 19, 2022
I listened to this poetry numerous times already. I don't like poems, but this one is one of the exceptions.
How Poe described each bells with their personality, I know I love this poetry the moment I read it.
How Poe described each bells with their personality, I know I love this poetry the moment I read it.
February 8, 2022
Read it aloud.
This is one of my favorite poems ever.
This is one of my favorite poems ever.
January 13, 2025
school read | gothic literature winter 2025
December 9, 2018
Poetry is far from being at the top of my list of things I enjoy, but I can appreciate a good piece of poetry. Although The Bells will never enter my list of favourite poems, it was an enjoyable little read.
In fact, The Bells is one of the more interesting pieces of poetry I have picked up. It does a lot with so little, taking us on a journey throughout. It’s exactly what you would expect of Poe, making it a worthwhile read.
In fact, The Bells is one of the more interesting pieces of poetry I have picked up. It does a lot with so little, taking us on a journey throughout. It’s exactly what you would expect of Poe, making it a worthwhile read.
June 19, 2020
Poe has described the life completely in this poem, all the delights and sorrows; and madness.
"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."
"In the silence of the night,
How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan."
"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."
"In the silence of the night,
How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan."
January 6, 2009
This is my favorite poem. Ever. I have half of it memorized, and it is a wonderful poem to recite aloud. Poe is a poetic genius. It's a rhymy poem that works! He actually uses the word tintinabulation. Brilliant.
October 8, 2016
Listen! Don't just read it! Listen to it's music with your heart! Feel it! Pay attention to the sounds produced—the vibration of the bells! Oh well... I do have a thing for poetry after all! How terribly mistaken I had been all along for thinking that I would never love and care about poetry!
July 28, 2014
A beautiful poem. I looked it up on YouTube afterwards, and found a wonderful reading of it by Basil Rathbone. Read for a course in sci-fi/fantasy literature.
April 24, 2020
Very pretty. Almost seems like a song.
December 11, 2020
Very nice. Kind of getting into poetry right now, so of course I read this.
October 20, 2022
A poem told in four parts that gets progressively darker with each one.
April 23, 2024
This poem breaks my heart knowing that it was one of the last poems he ever wrote because you can almost feel the dissent into madness while reading this poem
September 7, 2025
"What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells! In the startled ear of night, how they scream out their affright!"
August 24, 2021
rlly cool lil poem i rate it
July 16, 2022
Literally the bells HAHAHA
November 2, 2020
"Divided in four major movements, the poem deals with different types of bells that mark the four ages of human beings: silver for youth and merriment, golden for happiness and harmony in love and marriage, brass for maturity, and iron for old age and death. Appropriate sound devices such as onomatopoeia, and repetition produce sonority and rhythm in the poem. Sounds are alternately harsh, mellifluous, jarring, loving and cajoling. The poem was published with editor John Sartain's note that 'There is a curious piece of literary history connected with this poem . . . It illustrates the gradual development of an idea in the mind of a man of original genius' " Sova, Dawn, B. (2001). Edgar Allan Poe, A to Z : the essential reference to his life and work. New York: Checkmark Books. (25) A truly amazing poem. Two things gripped me right away with this poem its rhythm and the sounds that follow the life cycle from childhood to death.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews