{"id":107,"date":"2009-01-19T16:37:32","date_gmt":"2009-01-19T20:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/?p=107"},"modified":"2009-01-19T17:07:10","modified_gmt":"2009-01-19T21:07:10","slug":"the-bells-edgar-allan-poe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/?p=107","title":{"rendered":"The Bells – Edgar Allan Poe"},"content":{"rendered":"

[audio:thebells.mp3] (4:05)
\nread by Basil Rathbone. audio from The Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection<\/i><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

I<\/p>\n

Hear the sledges with the bells –
\nSilver bells!
\nWhat a world of merriment their melody foretells!
\nHow they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
\nIn the icy air of night!
\nWhile the stars that oversprinkle
\nAll the heavens seem to twinkle
\nWith a crystalline delight;
\nKeeping time, time, time,
\nIn a sort of Runic rhyme,
\nTo the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
\nFrom the bells, bells, bells, bells,
\nBells, bells, bells –
\nFrom the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.<\/p>\n

II<\/p>\n

Hear the mellow wedding bells –
\nGolden bells!
\nWhat a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
\nThrough the balmy air of night
\nHow they ring out their delight!
\nFrom the molten-golden notes,
\nAnd all in tune,
\nWhat a liquid ditty floats
\nTo the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
\nOn the moon!
\nOh, from out the sounding cells
\nWhat a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
\nHow it swells!
\nHow it dwells
\nOn the Future! -how it tells
\nOf the rapture that impels
\nTo the swinging and the ringing
\nOf the bells, bells, bells,
\nOf the bells, bells, bells, bells,
\nBells, bells, bells –
\nTo the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!<\/p>\n

III<\/p>\n

Hear the loud alarum bells –
\nBrazen bells!
\nWhat a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
\nIn the startled ear of night
\nHow they scream out their affright!
\nToo much horrified to speak,
\nThey can only shriek, shriek,
\nOut of tune,
\nIn a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
\nIn a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
\nLeaping higher, higher, higher,
\nWith a desperate desire,
\nAnd a resolute endeavor
\nNow -now to sit or never,
\nBy the side of the pale-faced moon.
\nOh, the bells, bells, bells!
\nWhat a tale their terror tells
\nOf despair!
\nHow they clang, and clash, and roar!
\nWhat a horror they outpour
\nOn the bosom of the palpitating air!
\nYet the ear it fully knows,
\nBy the twanging
\nAnd the clanging,
\nHow the danger ebbs and flows;
\nYet the ear distinctly tells,
\nIn the jangling
\nAnd the wrangling,
\nHow the danger sinks and swells,
\nBy the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells –
\nOf the bells,
\nOf the bells, bells, bells, bells,
\nBells, bells, bells –
\nIn the clamor and the clangor of the bells!<\/p>\n

IV<\/p>\n

Hear the tolling of the bells –
\nIron bells!
\nWhat a world of solemn thought their monody compels!
\nIn the silence of the night,
\nHow we shiver with affright
\nAt the melancholy menace of their tone!
\nFor every sound that floats
\nFrom the rust within their throats
\nIs a groan.
\nAnd the people -ah, the people –
\nThey that dwell up in the steeple,
\nAll alone,
\nAnd who tolling, tolling, tolling,
\nIn that muffled monotone,
\nFeel a glory in so rolling
\nOn the human heart a stone –
\nThey are neither man nor woman –
\nThey are neither brute nor human –
\nThey are Ghouls:
\nAnd their king it is who tolls;
\nAnd he rolls, rolls, rolls,
\nRolls
\nA paean from the bells!
\nAnd his merry bosom swells
\nWith the paean of the bells!
\nAnd he dances, and he yells;
\nKeeping time, time, time,
\nIn a sort of Runic rhyme,
\nTo the paean of the bells,
\nOf the bells –
\nKeeping time, time, time,
\nIn a sort of Runic rhyme,
\nTo the throbbing of the bells,
\nOf the bells, bells, bells –
\nTo the sobbing of the bells;
\nKeeping time, time, time,
\nAs he knells, knells, knells,
\nIn a happy Runic rhyme,
\nTo the rolling of the bells,
\nOf the bells, bells, bells –
\nTo the tolling of the bells,
\nOf the bells, bells, bells, bells,
\nBells, bells, bells –
\nTo the moaning and the groaning of the bells.<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

see also: The Raven<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[audio:thebells.mp3] (4:05) read by Basil Rathbone. audio from The Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-euphony-voluminously-wells"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=107"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119,"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107\/revisions\/119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poem.oftheweek.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}