The Bells

I read Edgar Allan Poe’s The “Bells” (pg. 785-787). The bells in this poem are all different and represent different meanings. We have the silver bells, “Silver bells!/ What a world of merriment their melody foretells! / How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, /  In the icy air of night!” (785). These silver bells represent joy and merriness in the winter times. Other bells are the golden bells, “Hear the mellow wedding bells / Golden bells! / What a world of happiness their harmony foretells! (785). These golden bells ring to mark the bond of marriage of man and woman in a joyful way. As the poem goes on, each stanza starts with describing the ringing of new kind of bell. The third stanza mentions brazen bells, and the fourth is iron. The poem begins with joyfulness and happiness with beautiful looking bells, then transitions with terror and melancholy.

What I like about this poem is its mystery that surrounds it. I feel like this poem was dedicated to his wife that died in 1847. “The Bells” was written in 1848, so that would make sense. The stanzas transition from joyfulness to sorrow. This shows his transition of his mood from meeting his wife to her untimely death. This is just my opinion. Students will take whatever they can get from Poe and form their own ideas of the meaning of his poems. Poe’s poems can create many meanings, which is great for teaching in a classroom. “The Bells” poem feels free and quite humorous to read. Poems are read a loud, but I would establish this poem in the class as a poem that is spoke aloud. Not just that though, it would be fun for students to express themselves with this poem for its vivid and loud tones with addition to its powerful and comic words. Such as the words “bells” that are scattered throughout the poem.

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