Review Of Edgar Allen Poe's Poem 'The Bells'

648 Words3 Pages

The Bells When you hear a bell ring off in the distance it’s the tone that sets the feeling inside aside. Church bells bring joyful notes through the countryside, and alarm bells bring caution or chaos. “The Bells” written by Edgar Allen Poe shows that death triumphs over life in time. That’s what the poem seems to show through the descending rings as the poem progresses. The figures of speech that are present in this poem speak loudly; for example alliteration is huge in this poem because of all the repetitive sounds he uses to describe the bell 's tone. His first stanza reads what a world of merriment their melody foretells and how they tinkle tinkle tinkle. this is a good example of alliteration. He also repetitively says “the bells” at the end of every …show more content…

The tone is what helps my thesis; That death in the end triumphs over life. The beginning of the poem starts with silver bells and how they ring out merriment and happiness. I think it’s an example of life at an adolescent age, a time of when life was full of new adventures and joy. Stated by poe “A world of merriment their melody foretells”. The next stage is the golden bells and how they ring out their delight; they still show an eagerness for joy and harmony, but are now exposed to the possibility that death and darkness exist in the journey of life. “how it swells, oh how it dwells” shows me that it gives an eager feeling but there is still darkness in the background. Then out of the blue the brazen bells are rung and they shriek with great turbulence and terror. To me it 's the sharp realization that life is a journey toward death that death is now a part of your existence and it’s creeping up on you slowly. Finally the ghoulish iron bells with their deep moan show that life has had its last day. The tone that this bell says to me is that has now taken over. Life has burned out and now the dark days are here to join life in