Wednesday, October 28, 2009

10th Grade Homework: 'The Bells' Analysis

In the comments section of our post, I have put the rest of the analysis of the symbolic meaning of 'The Bells.' Have a nice night!
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Miss Jones said...

The silver bells are connected to a sledge in winter time—sledges are typically used by children, so it is reasonable to believe that the silver bells represent youth and the innocence, joy, and energy that accompanies this time of life. The joyfulness of this time in life is conveyed in the lines “What a world of merriment their (the bells) melody foretells!” (line 3) and the environment surrounding the silver bells matches the joy of the bells (‘while the stars…. seem to twinkle with a crystalline delight’ (lines 6-8). Poe also uses euphony and alliteration in this section of the poem to verbally convey the feelings connected to this time of life. (what a world of merriment their melody foretells!, line 3)

The golden bells are the joyful bells of a wedding—an event that very clearly marks the passage of a youth into adulthood. These bells also ring out in delight (line 19) and Poe says “What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!” (line 17) which conveys that this time is also a time of joy— however, this joy is no longer innocent, since he discusses the rapture that these bells foretell—an obvious reference to the night of the wedding. This section of the poem is also highly dependent upon euphony (molten-golden notes), alliteration (happiness, harmony), however, it is not solely filled with language that calms. Instead, the sound of the words starts to shift into more chaotic language—Poe uses assonance to convey this shift (golden- notes). He uses this shift of sounds to convey the impending difficulty that comes with adulthood, since adulthood means more pain and more complexity in life.

The third set of bells marks this passage from happiness to pain and fear. These bells are bronze alarm bells. These bells, unlike the silver and golden bells, foretell a tale of terror (line 38), and they are not mellow like the golden bells—instead, they SCREAM out their fear (line 41). This section of the poem is full of cacophony (what a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!, they can only shriek, shriek). These bronze bells mark the pain and fear that come with a personal disaster—like a fire (lines 44, 45)—this fire could potentially just be something like a house fire, but it could also be the fires that come when a city is attacked in war. In either situation, this section of the poem has a significant change in tone from the joy of the first part of the poem moving into the pain and fright of the second part of the poem.

The last bells of the poem are iron bells. These bells mark a funeral, and they foretell a “world of solemn thought” (line 72), and rather than tinkle or scream, these bells ring with a rusty groan (lines 76-78).

Overall, these bells are used to emphasize and illustrate the overarching theme of the entire poem—the unending and relentless passage of time. Poe presents time as cruel, unchanging, and pitiless towards the experiences of mankind. In Poe’s world, the bells ring in all occasions— and time continues under all occasions—joyful or painful. There is not a moment where the bells are silent, having pity on those who are suffering. This is most clearly present within the depiction of the ghouls who “feel a glory in so rolling on the human heart a stone” (lines 84, 85), and the king who plays a song of triumph (and he rolls, rolls, rolls, rolls a paean from the bells, lines 90-92) and whose heart swells with happiness when he hears the song of the bells, completely insensitive to the death the bells are marking (lines 90-95). In this final section of the poem, the dominant poetic device is repetition (specifically with the words rolls, time, bells, and knells). Poe uses this repetition to emphasize the relentless and insensitive way that time relates to the life of man.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

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