Text: Wightman F. Melton, “Poe's Mechanical Poem,” Texas Review (University of Texas), vol. III, no. 2, January 1918, pp. 133-138

[page 133:]

A few years ago, when Poe failed to receive the requisite number of votes to place his name in America's Hall of Fame, Chancellor McCracken, who was interviewed on the subject, stated that the committee seemed to be of opinion that Poe's verse is not from the heart.

This opinion failed to satisfy some of Poe's most ardent admirers. Forthwith they turned, again, to “Annabel Lee,” “To Helen,” “To One in Paradise,” “To My Mother,” and to the theme of “The Raven,” if not to the construction of it, and assured themselves that the committee had blundered grievously.

Well, since Poe, at last, did find his place in the Hall of Fame — and without any change in the quality of his work — it may not be out of place to suggest that if ever there was a spontaneous, heart-made poem, surely that poem is “Annabel Lee.”(1)

Having made so large a claim for the spontaneity of “Annabel Lee,” we may now even-up by declaring that if ever there was a mechanical, head-made poem, surely that poem is “ The Bells.”

This claim is not based upon the fact that Poe said to Mrs. [page 134:] Shew (Poe's Works, “Virginia Edition,” vol. i, pp. 286, 287): “Marie Louise, I have to write a poem; I have no feeling, no sentiment, no inspiration,” and she, in response, called his attention to “the sound of neighboring church bells,” produced paper, and started him off with the lines:

Each of these lines Poe expanded into a stanza.

Nor is the claim based upon the further fact that the original of the poem contained only two stanzas: the first, of seven lines, on the merry, little, tinkling, silver wedding bells; and the second, of eleven lines, on the melancholy, heavy, iron, tolling bells.

Nor is this claim based upon the additional fact that the idea gradually developed in the mind of Poe, the poem having been altered and enlarged twice within nine months, after it was in the editor's hands, and before it appeared in Sartain's Union Magazine (Same ed. of Poe, vol. i, pp. 286-288; and vol. vii, pp. 222, 223).

The claim that the poem is a deliberate, intellectual, mechanical product, is based solely upon internal evidence. There are four bells, and a stanza to each bell. Having decided upon sledge bells, wedding bells, alarum bells, and tolling bells, the author selects the appropriate metals: silver sleigh bells, golden wedding bells, brazen alarum bells, and iron tolling bells.

The next question for the author to decide was what these several bells must foretell, tell, or compel. Naturally, the silver sleigh bells foretell a world of merriment; the golden wedding bells, a world of happiness; the brazen alarum bells, a tale of terror; and the iron tolling bells, a world of solemn thought. [page 135:]

Now, how shall these things be told? In 1) melody, 2) harmony, 3) turbulency, and 4) monody. Poe's reason for attributing harmony to wedding bells, and monody to tolling bells is apparent.

Next, in what manner shall these things be told? Let the silver bells tinkle, the golden bells ring out, the brazen bells scream out, and the iron bells groan.

Where and when? In the icy air of night, through the balmy air of night, in the startled ear of night, and in the silence of the night.

It is needless to go further with this analysis as a table follows, showing that the poem works out with almost mathematical precision.

Suppose we write down:

Next, let us write :

Any school child can supply the missing numbers.

Well, in the presence of a class of high school boys, and before they had studied “The Bells,” I have placed upon the board the following table, leaving out the name of a bell, a metal, the manner, the where, and the when, and I have found boys, who had never read the poem, or heard it read, able to supply the missing word or words. [page 136:]

Stanza?	Name?	Metal?	Foretells    Tells Compels?	How?	Manner?	Where?	When?	What?	Finally?
I.	Sledge	Silver	World of Merriment	Melody	Tinkle	Icy air	Night	?	Jingling and tinkling
II.	Wedding	Gold	World of Happiness	Harmony	Ring out	Through balmy air	Night	Delight	Riming and chiming
III.	Alarum	Brass	Tale of Terror	Turbulency	Screm Out	In startled ear	Night	Affright	In clamour and clangor
IV.	Trolling	Iron	World of Solemn Thought	Monody	Groan	In the silence	Night	?	Moaning and groaning

[page 137:]

Fancy a school boy seriously making the mistake of supplying words to give the reading: “Hear the iron wedding bells groaning out a tale of terror in the startled ear of noon-day!” or “Hear the brazen sleigh bells scream out a world of solemn thought — moaning and groaning!” or “Hear the tinkle of the silver tolling bells, jingling a world of merriment.”

Now, an effort to analyze “Annabel Lee “ after this fashion, will prove to the most skeptical that it is not mechanical. A school child might supply a word in a line, as:

or a rime-word, as:

seeing that the word must rime with “know.” If, on the other hand, the word, at the end of the line, is not required for rime, and the child is not familiar with the poem, who could guess what the child would supply:

What? Of course no child of average intelligence would say “boy”; but “girl,” “cat,” or what not, of one syllable, would satisfy the mind and the ear of the child.

“Now,” suggests some honest objector, “let the pupil's common sense settle matters in ‘Annabel Lee’ just as has been done in ‘The Bells.” All right — although “common sense” is not one of the necessary qualities of pure poetry. Take these lines:

Of course almost any intelligent child would say “angels,” or “seraphs,” in the first line — “angels” more likely; but “demons” would be harder to supply. Some would say “devils,” [page 138:] some “dead folks,” some “cat fish,” and if there were no ear for rhythm “sharks” and “whales” might be suggested. It is barely possible that some one might say “demon.”

Now, let it be granted that no child would be so silly as to say:

it yet remains for a cold, symmetrical table, of six stanzas of “Annabel Lee,” or any other poem, to be constructed (even Laureate Southey's “Cataract of Lodore” defies such analysis), proving it to be less spontaneous, less heart-made, or more mechanical, more head-made, than “The Bells.”

After all, let it be remembered that “The Bells” is one of the finest imitative poems in the world; that, when properly read, it delights the ear; and that no fault, whatever, is meant to be found with it. It is, as Professor Harrison, editor of the “Virginia Edition” of Poe, says, a “melodious onomatopoem, the most perfect imitation in word, sound, and rhythm, in suggestion, in exquisite mimicry, of its theme ever written, not even excepting the marvelous ‘Les Djinns’ of Victor Hugo or the ‘Lodore’ of Southey.”

[[Footnotes]]

[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 133:]

1 Professor Charles W. Kent speaks of “Annabel Lee” as a poem which it is well-nigh sacrilege to connect with any one but Poe's lost Virginia (Poe Works, “Virginia Edition,” vol. vii, p. xxi). He is here referring to the foolish claim of Mrs. Whitman that the poem referred to herself (Same ed. of Poe, vol. i, p. 292, and vol. vii, p. 219), and to the doubtful claim of Mrs. Weiss, that the poem does not refer to Poe's wife. (Same ed. of Poe, vol. vii, p. 219; The Independent, vol. 56, p. 1012; and The South Atlantic Quarterly, vol. xi, pp. 175-179.)