Preview

Analysis of The Bells

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1095 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis of The Bells
Analysis of ’The Bells’ by Edgar Allan Poe Human beings are bound to be affected by sound due to the sense of hearing. A listener can be emotionally stimulated by specific sounds, thereby being reminded of particular events associated with those sounds. The poem, ’The Bells’, deals with the concept of sound, its various effects and life and death. In order to illustrate this point, this essay will analyze the poem and examine the poetic devices used in it. Edgar Allan Poe’s poem is structured into four stanzas, each one longer than the one before. There are a lot of change in the meter, although the dominant one is the trochaic meter, as seen in line 15: [Hear the] [mel- -low] [wed- ding] [bells], where Poe creates a catalectic line. The poem has a turbulent and irregular rhyme scheme throughout the poem. Without even going into the content of the poem, it is obvious that Poe is creating an unstable environment for the reader. This is clear due to the rhyme scheme and the inconsistent lengths and the out-spacing of the lines. Each of the four stanzas describe a different kind of bell; silver, golden, brazen and iron. The first stanza, which portrays the ’silver bells’, is about the cheerful bells, promises of fun and possibly the time of Christmas. Here, in the beginning of the poem, the reader is given joyful sounds along with the onomatopoeic words like ’tinkle’, ’twinkle’ and ’tintinnabulation’. A lot of refrain appears in the poem; for example the repetition of the word ’time’ (l. 9) that gives the reader a sense of a ticking clock, as if to describe the anticipation and await of Christmas. This stanza is all about the cheerfulness of childhood and the happy and innocent moments it is composed of. Poe moves on to the next stanza with the golden bell, where wedding bells appear, foreseeing harmony and happiness. The smoothness of the bells and their notes are in focus in this stanza as described with the word molten-golden. According to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Pit and the Pendelum

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Introduction 1st Body Paragraph (Diction): Edgar Allen Poe uses diverse styles of diction to impact the reader’s mood in different ways. The connotations of negative words affect the reader’s attitude in a pessimistic manner. “Sick unto death with that long agony” (Poe 4). When Poe begins the narrative, the narrator is in a negative mindset. This aids the audience in getting a feel for what the narrator is actually feeling throughout the course of the narrative. The negative connotation of diction also assists the readers when picking up on the mood of the anecdote. This affects the readers in a negative way because their mood has changed from neutral to somber within the audience.…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Raven: A Close Reading

    • 2241 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The Raven: A Close Reading The entire poem including the first stanza, as scanned here, is octametre with mostly trochaic feet and some iams. The use of a longer line enables the poem to be more of a narration of the evening's events. Also, it enables Poe to use internal rhymes as shown in bold. The internal rhyme occurs in the first and third lines of each stanza. As one reads the poem you begin to expect the next rhyme pushing you along. The external rhyme of the "or" sound in Lenore and nevermore at then end of each stanza imitates the haunting nature of the narrator's thoughts. The internal rhyme along with the same external rhyme repeated at the end of each stanza and other literary devices such as alliteration and assonance and give the poem a driving chant-like sound. The musicality of the rhyme also helps one to memorize the poem. This helps keep the poem in your head after you've finished reading it, lingering in your thoughts just as the narrator's thoughts are haunting him. The rhyme also helps to produce a humming beat in the readers mind driving him on steadily..…

    • 2241 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The pendulum that begins to descend to the breast of the narrator begins to enhance Poe’s theme by allowing for the narrator’s feelings to completely emerge. The audience is able to understand the narrator’s thoughts because it is coming from a first person perspective. The narrator’s realization of doom in the passage, inspires thoughts of hope, and allow for his characterization to change from pessimistic to hopeful. This occurs as thinks that “It was hope--the hope that triumphs on the rack” (Poe 6). His new thoughts altogether not only changes his characterization, but also the mood of the scene. The mood then converts from depressing into inspiration.…

    • 292 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the story, “The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe, the theme is the different stages in life as described using different scenes and different bells. In the first section of the poem the author wrote, “Silver Bells, What a world of merriment their melody foretells! (I 2-3)” This is what childhood is comparable to, you are joyful and wondrous. The world is bright and so is your future. Next, in the second section the author described, “Hear the mellow wedding-bells. (II 1)” This represents the time in a person's life when the enter adulthood and get married. The world is full of opportunities and chances they can take. Also, section two states, “What a gust of euphony voluminously wells!. (II 12)” This is another example of how the author used examples…

    • 349 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poetry englobes everything all Masterpieces together can convey, from visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile and gustative senses to emotions puzzled in the poet’s choice of words, in a way to tell a story and touch the audience. They use many techniques in their poems through which they deliver their message, but the musicality they adopt when writing plays a major role on the pathos aspect that captivates the readers and the listeners. While “Those Winter Sundays”, “Still I Rise” and “Daddy” all share the same free verse form to explore the theme of Dominance vs. Submission, they employ an array of literary devices and figurative language supported by different sound devices to highlight important elements of emotions.…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    School Bells I started school in Mexico, I went there for kindergarten and half of first grade. Those two years were very fun. In kindergarten my mom would take me to school every morning we would go walking since it wasn’t to far away from my house. My mom would take me lunch it would be fresh and delicious. In Mexico, you bring your own lunch the school does not provide you with it. SO when lunch time came we would all go outside and wait for our moms to come and bring us our lunch. There was also some ladies that would sell food outside the school and you could buy from them if you had a peso (dollar). In first grade there was a teacher who hated me with a passion! Why she hated me? I do not know. I would go to class and I would do my work…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Ancient Mariner

    • 721 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the beginning, the poem is set outside of a church just before the wedding guest is about to cross the threshold into the church to witness the wedding. This is also a pivotal part of the poem as this is where the mariner tells his story to the guest. This creates a joyous atmosphere at the beginning, ‘The guests are met, the feast is set, may’st you hear the merry din?’ which is then tainted with the mariners arrival, this brings in a darker atmosphere and creates a sense of foreboding. This prepares the audience for the supernatural and ghostly happenings in the poem yet to come.…

    • 721 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Poe's poem "The Bells" published in 1849, there is a variety of personification and alliteration. The poem is mainly telling us about the sounds of four different kinds of bells. It starts off with light and happiness and slowly begins to end in sadness, fear, and misery of the bells. "What a world of merriment their melody foretells" (Poe 3). This line shows and tells one how joyous and happy the world seems at that near moment as to towards the end of the poem…

    • 1298 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Bells Mood Analysis

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Meaning: Many different meanings can be inferred from Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Bells.” The meaning we took from is was that Poe is trying to show the cycle of emotions that persist throughout your life. As the tone and the mood are changing it may sink up to how it would in real life, going from excitement of the world to joy but the finally ending up in fear and…

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe is a poem about love and how it all ends eventually, which is something Poe is rather familiar with. Growing up Poe lost many people he formed relationships with during his life, thus giving the impression that relationships end. This is told through…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Some the literary elements that Poe uses in the bells are onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance, repetition, and rhythm. Onomatopoeia which is the formation of word by imitation of a sound made or associated with its referent, it is used in line 3 with the phrase tinkle tinkle, tinkle. Alliteration is the commencement of two or more stressed syllables of a word group either with the same consonant sound or sound group, used in verse 2 lines 10 and 12 “frantic fire” and “desperate desire.” Assonance is a resemblance of sounds, also called vowel rhyme, used in line 1 “ sledges, bells.” Repetition is the act of repeating something, used in line 3 “ tinkle, tinkle, tinkle.” Rhythm is the movement or procedure with uniform or patterned recurrence…

    • 364 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rhyme played a big part in this song. Again, Carol of the bells is fast paced and rhyming made the song sound better than non rhyming words would. An example of a rhyme is “All seem to say, throw cares away,” (3,4) which emphasizes the happiness and carefreeness of Christmas. The meaning is that you shouldn’t be worrying about everything, you should be spending time with your family and friends and enjoying the holiday. Another example is “To…

    • 503 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Sick Rose

    • 296 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Moreover, in terms of sound devices, we can say that this lyrical poem contains alliteration, onomatopoeia and has an organized rhyme scheme. Alliteration can be noticed in the last line of the second stanza - Does thy life destroy”, while in the last line of the first stanza, contains onomatopoeia- “howling storm”. Furthermore, when we analyze the rhyme scheme, we deduce that the rhyme is feminine, and (the second lines of the quatrains match with the fourth ones).…

    • 296 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    in mrs tilschers class

    • 471 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The first two stanzas reflect on feelings on happiness and excitement in childhood through the use of language. Phrases such as 'the laugh of a bell' and 'the classroom glowed like a sweetshop' evoke feelings of freedom and elation. However, the underlying threats of the adult world are still present in this stanza and throughout the rest of the poem, contrasting with the safety of the classroom and the joys of childhood. The juxtaposition of 'Coloured shapes.' and 'Brady and Hindley.' in stanza two, is an example of this and emphasizes the innocence and vulnerability of the children. As the poem progresses, there are more references to growing up and changes. The third stanza opens with the line 'Over the Easter term, the inky tadpoles changed from commas into exclamation marks'. This sets the mood for the rest of the poem as it indicates the start of imminent change. The use of 'exclamation…

    • 471 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Bells Essay

    • 922 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Bells Mackenzie Gates Many types of literary devices are used to create an overall mood for each section of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Bells”. The first section starts out happy reminding people of Christmas time and many of the ways bells are incorporated with this time of year. This is followed by a joyful wedding in section two. The mood, however, then shifts for the worst in section three, turning to the terror of a fire. The fourth section finishes the poem off with death represented by the iron bells. Literary devices are used throughout each section to describe the mood and make one feel like it’s real.…

    • 922 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics