- The Bells
"The Bells" is a heavily onomatopoeic poem by
Edgar Allan Poe which was not published until after his death in1849 . It is perhaps best known for the diacopic repetition of the word "bells." The poem has four parts to it; each part becomes darker and darker as the poem progresses from "the jingling and the tinkling" of the bells in part 1 to the "moaning and the groaning" of the bells in part 4.Analysis
This poem can be interpreted in many different ways, the most basic of which is simply a reflection of the sounds that bells can make, and the emotions evoked from that sound. For example, "From the bells bells bells bells/Bells bells bells!" brings to mind the clamoring of myriad church bells. Several deeper interpretations exist as well. One is that the poem is a representation of
life from the nimbleness ofyouth to the pain of age. Growing despair is emphasized alongside the growing frenzy in the tone of the poem. [Silverman, Kenneth. "Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance". New York City: Harper Perennial, 1991. ISBN 0060923318 p. 403] Another is the passing of the seasons, from spring towinter . The passing of the seasons is often used as ametaphor for life itself. The poem also suggests a Poe theme of mourning over a lost wife, courted in sledge, married and then killed in a fire as the husband looks on. The tolling of the iron bells reflects the final madness of the grief-stricken husband.The sounds of the verses, specifically the repetitive "bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells"," lie on a narrow line between sense and nonsense, causing a feeling of instability. [Rosenheim, Shawn James. "The Cryptographic Imagination: Secret Writing from Edgar Poe to the Internet". The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. p. 125. ISBN 9780801853326] Poe uses the word "tintinnabulation", which many critics believe is merely an onomatopoeic nonsense term. Poe biographer
Hervey Allen suggests the word is based on an ancient bell-based instrument called "tintinabula". [Nelson, Randy F. "The Almanac of American Letters". Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1981: 25. ISBN 086576008X] The series of "bells" echo the imagined sounds of the various bells, from the silver bells following the klip-klop of the horses, to the "dong, ding-dong" of the swinging golden and iron bells, to screeching "whee-aaah" of the brazen bells. The series are always four, followed by three, always beginning and ending on a stressed syllable. The meter changes to iambic in the lines with repeated "bells," bringing the reader into their rhythm. Most of the poem is a more hurriedanapestic (**/) meter.Fact|date=December 2007The bells of which he writes are thought to be those he heard from
Fordham University 's bell tower, since Poe resided in the same Bronx neighborhood as that university. He also frequently strolled about Fordham's campus conversing with both the students and theJesuits .Fact|date=October 2007Critical response
"The Bells" is often criticized for being mechanical and forced. [Meyers, Jeffrey. Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy. Cooper Square Press, 1992. p. 223. ISBN 0815410387]
Publication history
Poe is believed to have written "The Bells" in May of 1848 and submitted it three times to "Sartrain's Union Magazine", a magazine run by
John Sartain , until it was finally accepted. [Sova, Dawn B. "Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z". New York: Checkmark Books, 2001. p. 25. ISBN 081604161X] He was paid fifteen dollars for his work, though it was not published until after his death in November 1849.Inspiration for the poem is often granted to Marie Louise Shew, a woman who had helped care for Poe's wife Virginia as she lay dying. [Sova, Dawn B. "Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z". New York: Checkmark Books, 2001. p. 25. ISBN 081604161X] One day, as Shew was visiting Poe at his cottage in Fordham, New York, Poe needed to write a poem but had no inspiration. Shew allegedly heard ringing bells from afar and playfully suggested to start there, possibly even writing the first line of each stanza. [ [http://www.eapoe.org/works/poems/bellsb.htm E. A. Poe Society of Baltimore ] ]
Adaptations
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) composed a choralsymphony "The Bells", Op. 35, based on a Russian adaptation of the poem byKonstantin Balmont . The symphony follows classicalsonata form : first movement, slow movement, scherzo, and finale, thus honoring the poem's four sections. [ [http://www.americansymphony.org/dialogues_extensions/99_2000season/1999_10_15/rachmaninoff.cfm AmericanSymphony.org] ] (The work is sometimes performed in English, using not Poe's original, but a translation of Balmont's adaptation by Fanny S. Copeland.) The Scottish composer Hugh S. Roberton (1874–1947) published "Hear the Tolling of the Bells" (1909), "The Sledge Bells" (1909), and "Hear the Sledges with the Bells" (1919) based on Poe's poem. [Sova, Dawn B. "Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z". New York: Checkmark Books, 2001. p. 212. ISBN 081604161X]Phil Ochs composed a tune to the poem for his album "All the News That's Fit to Sing ".References
External links
* [http://public-domain.zorger.com Scans from an 1881 edition with engraved illustrations by R. Riodan, Charles P. King, F.O.C. Darley, S. G. McCutcheon, A. Fredericks, and Granville Perkins]
* [http://www.reelyredd.com/0107thebells.htm The Bells with audio reading]
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