Advertisement
Sp33dyColibri

The Bells

Oct 18th, 2019
189
0
Never
Not a member of Pastebin yet? Sign Up, it unlocks many cool features!
text 5.02 KB | None | 0 0
  1. The Bells
  2. by Edgar Allan Poe
  3. (published 1849)
  4.  
  5. I.
  6.  
  7. HEAR the sledges with the bells --
  8. Silver bells !
  9. What a world of merriment their melody foretells !
  10. How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
  11. In the icy air of night !
  12. While the stars that oversprinkle
  13. All the heavens, seem to twinkle
  14. With a crystalline delight ;
  15. Keeping time, time, time,
  16. In a sort of Runic rhyme,
  17. To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
  18. From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
  19. Bells, bells, bells --
  20. From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.
  21.  
  22. II.
  23.  
  24. Hear the mellow wedding bells
  25. Golden bells!
  26. What a world of happiness their harmony foretells !
  27. Through the balmy air of night
  28. How they ring out their delight !
  29. From the molten-golden notes,
  30. And all in tune,
  31. What a liquid ditty floats
  32. To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
  33. On the moon !
  34. Oh, from out the sounding cells,
  35. What a gush of euphony voluminously wells !
  36. How it swells !
  37. How it dwells
  38. On the Future ! how it tells
  39. Of the rapture that impels
  40. To the swinging and the ringing
  41. Of the bells, bells, bells,
  42. Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
  43. Bells, bells, bells --
  44. To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells !
  45.  
  46. III.
  47.  
  48. Hear the loud alarum bells --
  49. Brazen bells !
  50. What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells !
  51. In the startled ear of night
  52. How they scream out their affright !
  53. Too much horrified to speak,
  54. They can only shriek, shriek,
  55. Out of tune,
  56. In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
  57. In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
  58. Leaping higher, higher, higher,
  59. With a desperate desire,
  60. And a resolute endeavor
  61. Now -- now to sit or never,
  62. By the side of the pale-faced moon.
  63. Oh, the bells, bells, bells !
  64. What a tale their terror tells
  65. Of Despair !
  66. How they clang, and clash, and roar !
  67. What a horror they outpour
  68. On the bosom of the palpitating air !
  69. Yet the ear, it fully knows,
  70. By the twanging,
  71. And the clanging,
  72. How the danger ebbs and flows ;
  73. Yet, the ear distinctly tells,
  74. In the jangling,
  75. And the wrangling,
  76. How the danger sinks and swells,
  77. By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells --
  78. Of the bells --
  79. Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
  80. Bells, bells, bells --
  81. In the clamour and the clangour of the bells !
  82.  
  83. IV.
  84.  
  85. Hear the tolling of the bells --
  86. Iron bells !
  87. What a world of solemn thought their monody compels !
  88. In the silence of the night,
  89. How we shiver with affright
  90. At the melancholy meaning of their tone !
  91. For every sound that floats
  92. From the rust within their throats
  93. Is a groan.
  94. And the people -- ah, the people --
  95. They that dwell up in the steeple,
  96. All alone,
  97. And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,
  98. In that muffled monotone,
  99. Feel a glory in so rolling
  100. On the human heart a stone --
  101. They are neither man nor woman --
  102. They are neither brute nor human --
  103. They are Ghouls: --
  104. And their king it is who tolls ;
  105. And he rolls, rolls, rolls, rolls,
  106. Rolls
  107. A pæan from the bells !
  108. And his merry bosom swells
  109. With the pæan of the bells !
  110. And he dances, and he yells ;
  111. Keeping time, time, time,
  112. In a sort of Runic rhyme,
  113. To the pæan of the bells --
  114. Of the bells :
  115. Keeping time, time, time,
  116. In a sort of Runic rhyme,
  117. To the throbbing of the bells --
  118. Of the bells, bells, bells --
  119. To the sobbing of the bells ;
  120. Keeping time, time, time,
  121. As he knells, knells, knells,
  122. In a happy Runic rhyme,
  123. To the rolling of the bells --
  124. Of the bells, bells, bells --
  125. To the tolling of the bells,
  126. Of the bells, bells, bells, bells --
  127. Bells, bells, bells --
  128. To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.
Advertisement
Add Comment
Please, Sign In to add comment
Advertisement