Reading the Classics discussion

 The Bells

 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 a 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 clamor and the clangor 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 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,
 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
 A paean from the bells!
 And his merry bosom swells
 With the paean of the bells!
 And he dances, and he yells;
 Keeping time, time, time,
 In a sort of Runic rhyme,
 To the paean 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.

by Edgar Allan Poe

"The Bells" is another good example of Poe's poetic cadence.

I think this poem is brilliant, personally. I don't think you can really appreciate it unless you read it out loud and feel the words on your tongue. The first stanza is so bouncy, just like tiny sleigh bells would be, tinkling out over the snow. The wedding bells then just sound cheerful and sweet and the words flow fluidly. The alarum bells is clever, because most of the lines blend together with no stopping places. The very reading compels it to go faster, more alarmed. Iron, however, has a lot of similar sounds and slower words, forcing the reader to slow down and really pronounce, just like a slowly swinging iron bell would do, slowly, strongly tolling. Then he swells it out joyously again with the king as though he is riding through a parade of his people, as if after a great victory or during a holiday celebration. The whole thing is wonderful.

Alana,

That's the feel exactly, which what I love about Poe's poetry.

I love this poem - my second favorite by Poe, after The Raven. I agree that these poems need to be read aloud. It gives almost as much pleasure speaking them as reading them.

Interesting how this poem relates with the seasons...

Jacob wrote:"Interesting how this poem relates with the seasons..."
The poem's association with the seasons struck me only after he mentioned it. I just thought it conveyed the different stages of a person's life.

I had not considered that, Jacob. Not sure that was Poe's intent or not, but I agree that it works.

One of my favorite poems, and I hadn't read it in a while. Thought I had something to say about it, but Alana already said it long ago! I usually like more structured poetry, but Poe does such brilliant things with pacing...

Thank you, Rick, for posting it. :)