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I
Hear the sledges with the bells —
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
5
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,
10
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
[[n]]
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. [page 123:]
II
15
[[n]]
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! —
20
[[n]]
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!
25
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
30
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 —
35
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells! [page 124:]
III
Hear the loud alarum bells —
Brazen bells!
What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear of Night
40
[[n]]
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
45
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,
50
[[n]]
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!
55
What a horror they outpour
[[n]]
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear, it fully knows,
By the twanging
And the clanging,
60
How the danger ebbs and flows;
[[n]]
Yes, the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells,
65
[[n]]
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! [page 125:]
IV
70
[[n]]
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
75
[[n]]
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
[[n]]
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan.
And the people — ah, the people —
80
[[n]]
They that dwell up in the steeple,
All alone,
And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so rolling
85
On the human heart a stone —
They are neither man nor woman —
They are neither brute nor human —
[[n]]
They are Ghouls: —
And their king it is who tolls: —
90
And he rolls, rolls, rolls,
[[n]]
Rolls
A Pæan from the bells!
And his merry bosom swells
With the Pæan of the bells!
95
And he dances and he yells;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the Pæan of the bells —
Of the bells: —
100
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the throbbing of the bells — [page 126:]
Of the bells, bells, bells —
To the sobbing of the bells: —
105
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: —
110
To the tolling of the bells —
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells —
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.
(1849)
[The following variants appear at the bottom of page 122:]
Title The Bells. — A Song (U.M. [December, 1849]).
[The following variants appear at the bottom of page 123:]
The text printed in the Union Magazine for December, 1849, inasmuch as it differs radically from the final text, is given here in its entirety:
THE BELLS. — A SONG
The bells! — hear the bells!
The merry wedding bells!
The little silver bells!
How fairy-like a melody there swells
From the silver tinkling cells
Of the bells, bells, bells!
Of the bells!
The bells! — ah, the bells!
The heavy iron bells!
Hear the tolling of the bells!
Hear the knells!
How horrible a monody there floats
From their throats —
From their deep-toned throats!
How I shudder at the notes
From the melancholy throats
Of the bells, bells, bells —
Of the bells —
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Notes:
None.
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[S:0 - KCP, 1917] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Works - The Bells (ed. K. Campbell, 1917)