Preview

The Bells: Edgar Allan Poe

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
837 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Bells: Edgar Allan Poe
THE BELL
*Assessment of the Poem:
Some critics regard the poem as masterly; other critics regard it as shallow and sing-song. The latter critics–including many 20th and 21st Century poets–tend to eschew rhyming poetry because of its emphasis on form and musicality over substance. It is true that the "The Bells" is highly musical, in keeping with Poe's belief that a poem should appeal to the ear. The Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff wrote a symphony based on the poem. It contains four movements in imitation of the four stanzas of "The Bells," as translated into Russian. Yes, the poem is musical. However, it is not true that it lacks substance, as the analysis on this page attempts to demonstrate.
*Theme: Death ultimately triumphs over life (or, life is a journey toward death). The bells ring joyfully in youth. However, even as they ring, death lurks in the background. For example, in Stanza 1, the narrator hears the tinkling sleigh bells at night (Line 5), meaning the darkness of death (night) is present at the beginning of life. In Stanza 2, the bells ringing in celebration of the wedding resound "through the balmy air of night," meaning the darkness of death is present in young adulthood. In Stanza 3, the bells ring "in the startled ear of night," meaning the darkness of death is present in middle age and later, when fire begins to consume the exuberance of youth. In Stanza 4, the bells ring "in the silence of the night," meaning death has triumphed over life.
*The Bells as Death's Accomplice: In the first stanza, the bells keep time in a "Runic rhyme," a mysterious rhyme that pleases the ear. Thus, the bells become death's accomplice, marking the passing of time–each second, hour, day, year–with beautiful sounds that continue until life ends and the king of the ghouls tolls the death knell (Stanza 4). The ghouls, demons who feed on the flesh of the dead, are happy to welcome death's victims. Their happiness mockingly echoes the joy expressed in the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Meditation 17

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Someone's death, compared to the tolling of the bell, indirectly affects one even though "that he knows not it tolls for him." The ringing of the bell reminds one of death and how close it is. There are no atheists at life's end. We are born dying, and as we realize this, we begin to fear what is beyond the end of life. We become closer to God to seek forgiveness for our sins and try to bargain our way into heaven. Donne explains how "when [the church] baptizes a child" this child is recognized, as is Donne, as one of God's subjects. The child ""¦is connected to the head which is my head to." The child has become a member of the same faction as Donne. That affects him. On the event of someone's death Donne compares them to a chapter in book as simply being "translated into a better language." This "translation" represents the freeing of one's spirit to rise into heaven. Donne explains everyone's unity by how the death of one affects us all. A "Man is a piece of continent." If he dies ""¦a clod be washed away"¦ [and] "¦Europe is the less." This effectively states that "any man's death diminishes [one]" and brings everyone closer together. As the clods of earth are washed away, it brings the erosive ocean closer to us all.…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fahrenheit 451 Themes

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the poem he continually discusses that death is rage, a curse, etc. These inevitable fears are first introduced in the first stanza when he states, “Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” This first stanza opens with saying one should not give into death, and when it comes, it should come with a full life. These ideas are featured once again in the last stanza. The author reveals the true purpose about the poem in this stanza, stating, “And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” In this stanza he is saying that he believes his father should fight, and that he does not care what his father has to do to fight. Giving up the fight is like being a lawn mower in a field of gardeners, in the end those who fight have a greater…

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In practically any memorable story, the setting plays a significant role in setting the tone and shaping the theme that the author is trying to convey. Whether it’s a rural area, a suburban neighborhood, or a big city, the characters’ surroundings considerably impact their lives and how the story unfolds. Edgar Allan Poe fully utilizes vivid imagery of dark and dreary settings to create haunting and eerie moods centered on the theme of death in three of his most well-known works: “The Raven,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.”…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some symbolism exists when the speaker says, “I sat all morning in the college sick bay / Counting bells knelling classes to a close. / At two o'clock our neighbors drove me home.” (1-3). This stanza can represent the fragility of life, how life ends, and how time goes on. The speaker himself is sick, though the nature of the illness is not revealed and it could be that he is sick with grief. With grief in mind, the use of the word “morning” is a homophone for “mourning” and may indicate the speaker's state of being. The second line of that stanza possesses some alliteration with the soft “c” sound and really emphasizes the imagery of both the end of classes and the end of a life. The passage if time is also present in this first stanza, as well as in several places throughout the rest of the poem. The poem starts at morning but time passes quickly and by the third line it is already two o'clock. This is symbolic of how quickly time goes by and also of how short the life was of the speaker's deceased…

    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe Poetry

    • 1168 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Many poems, although very unique, share important features that help us as the audience better understand what people go through in their lifetime. There are instances where the reader can feel what the poet is feeling and that is what makes a great poet differ from an ordinary poet. As in anything, poetry is subjective to each individual and one person might look at a piece of poetry one way or experience it another way. In the poem, “Alone”, by Edgar Allan Poe, the speaker of the poem who is Poe, shows his true self to the reader and is not ashamed to hide anything. He is interpreting his life and wants the reader to understand him. This is similar to the poem in Spanish, “El Poeta” by Pablo Neruda. Another important poem is the French poem,…

    • 1168 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe's Poetry

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Once something is gone, it is extremely hard to recover. Poe proves this true in his poems, many of which are about the loss of ideal beauty. Poe often writes about this, even so much as defining poetry as "The rhythmical creation of beauty", as stated in his writing, "The Poetic Principle". Three poems that are specifically about the loss of ideal beauty are: "The Raven", "Lenore" and "Annabel Lee".…

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bredon Hill

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the first two stanzas, the author introduces of his lover and how happy they are being together as they spend their Sunday mornings lying on Bredon hill. They listen to the distant church bells which are pleasant to listen to and it put him in a cheerful mood. The third stanza suggests that the bells are calling them to go to church but instead, the woman decides to stay with her lover. In the fourth stanza narrator viewed the church bells as wedding bells and he states "And we will hear the chime, And come to church in time." He is saying that they will be at the church when it is time for them to get married.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The boundaries which divide life from death are at best shadowy and vague, who shall say where one ends and another begins” -Edgar Allan Poe…

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Within the first two stanzas, the speaker uses repetition of “It was not” to eliminate the possibilities or ideas of being dead “for I stood up/And all the dead, lie down.” The speaker represents different attributes of emotion with the use of personification as she felt “Siroccos – crawl” which gives a sort of chilly or warm landscape/setting, something only the mortal could feel. She also uses personification by making the bells “Put out their tongues, for noon.” Or in greater terms the afternoon bells were ringing. Therefore she should be nothing other than alive if she can still sense things like this. She then uses imagery to show that her psychological state and surroundings affect every aspect of her life when she says “And yet, it tasted, like them all,” The different feelings encountered by the speaker have come together probably enforcing her to be in the rather chaotic state that she’s in. As the speaker states that the figures she have seen were “Set orderly, for Burial” the mind of the speaker automatically shifts back to a funeral which brings her…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Journal Entry Five: Poe 's Tell-Tale Heart is written through the eyes of a madman who appears to have lost some of his marbles, yet is extremely calculated in his actions. Is the narrator reliable? What does the beating of the heart represent? Also, what is the climax of this story: the murder of the old man or the madman 's confession?…

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Bells and The Raven

    • 1413 Words
    • 6 Pages

    “The Bells” and “The Raven” are both poems by Edgar Allen Poe. They are two of the best poems I have ever read. Poe was one of the best poets in his fans eyes. He put hard work and dedication into all of his poems. Edgar liked to use historic words in poems. In the poem “The Raven” the bird was on the window representing something but you don’t know what it is. The poem “The Bells” made me notice it by the bells of the church when you are walking down the street that is how “The Bells” caught my attention. I loved the sound of the poems it is just incredible how he puts those words together. The poems make think they’re the best because the type of words Poe uses. With the words that Poe uses make you really think about what he wrote in the poems. That is what makes me think “The Bells” and “The Raven” are two of the best poems I have ever read. The structure of the poem made me want to read the poems even more. After reading the first couple sentences it just made me want to read the rest of it. That is the kind of effect that “The Raven” and “The Bells” can put on you after reading just a couple of lines. The poem “The Bells” is a memorable moment because it reminds me when I’m on my way to church. “The Raven “is memorable because it reminds me…

    • 1413 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the poem, death is portrayed as a gentlemanly suitor, who collects the speaker for a carriage ride, and sets her down in "Eternity" (24). For the enjoyment of Death's Company, the speaker sacrifices her interests and activities. On the ride they pass schoolchildren at play, fields of crops, and then the "Setting Sun," before stopping at a house, which seems like a "swelling of the ground" (12,18). Since pausing at the house, she notes that despite the passing of "Centuries," she still remembers the day, as if it were today, that she encountered Death.…

    • 1138 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the short story "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator, never being identified, states that he is sane. He goes on to say that he is kind and respects the fidelity of friendship. He claims he loves pets and likes to hang out with them. The pets in his house include "birds, goldfish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat". Pluto ,the cat, of all pets was the narrator's favorite. The narrator has a lot of conscious and unconscious feelings that motivate him to behave as he does in the story. He does not really understand all of these motivations, his own behaviors, or the psychological basis for the reasoning of his actions. After reading further, there were many questions that arose in my mind. The most prevalent of all the questions were how much can be rationally explained? And are superstitions real? After reading the title the first thing that came to mind was the black cat superstition. Cats have always held a variety of notions among all cultures, especially a black cat. The majority of humans have always associated black cats with something bad or evil. I myself have always believed that the superstitions following black cats are just a hoax believed by the naive.…

    • 1021 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Lover's Lover Diction

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Throughout the clock’s contradictory speech, the tone shifts sardonically as the clock utilizes diction that is critical of the lover’s thought process. The theme shines through the darkness of the reality that the clock expose to the poem; the theme being face reality and make every day count. The main purpose of the clock’s speech accentuates that worrying about things you can’t change only wastes time. Not only does comparing a green valley and appalling snow provide evidence of the correlation between life and death, this also corresponds with time as the seasons…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    There are three stanzas, and each stanza illustrates the three ways people interpret death, spiritually, physically, and emotionally. The overarching theme is how people…

    • 1632 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays