The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe

The Bells
by Edgar Allan Poe

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.

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[BrainRCG]

bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bellsbells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bells bel

[JennnyVideos]

If you stare at the picture long enough, it moves....

[ItsAlliBear]

I adore the poem and your tone but maybe feel more emotion within what you're reading. There was more than stiffness (in a way) throughout the poem. There was merriment, terror, ect.

[BADASHPANDA91XD]

@SinnerChronoful wat?(said confused)

[BADASHPANDA91XD]

@samdo123 i no right its fridgin annoying but still an awsome poem

[BADASHPANDA91XD]

its starting to annoy me bells bells bells

[BADASHPANDA91XD]

@BrainRCG ha ha ha(not even trying but still funny)

[SinnerChronoful]

This is the circle of Life Silver Bells-Kids Golden Bells- Marriage- Adult Brazen Bells- Depression [ Someone Getting Killed] Iron Bells- Death

[samdo123]

all i heard was bell bell bell bell ___ bell bell bell _bell bell bell _bell bell bell_ alarm bells

[andrewthompson10]

The first part of this poem has the words merriment,delight, sprinkling heavens......why does everyone read it without an ounce of merriment in their voice?

[OL55CADDY]

@SteveBeakWeiland

This poem was an exercise in word play. Has nothing to do with madness.

Try to write a poem which coveys the SOUND of the bells he describes and the stages of life the bells represent.(youth, marraige, calamity, death).

This is a very poor reading of this poem.

There are better versions on you tube.

[SteveBeakWeiland]

Welcome to the madness that existed in this man's conciousness. Imagine hearing the bells, incessantly and never-ending, ringing in your brain until you were compelled, compelled, compelled to write about the bells, bells, bells, bells....