The Bells – a Collaboration
The Bells – a Collaboration - context Summary
Published 1849
Published in 1849, this short piece uses contrasting bell images—from “little silver bells” to “heavy iron bells”—to move between delight and dread. The poem stages shifts in tone through repeated phrases and vivid sound imagery, making the bells themselves the focal actors that evoke changing emotional atmospheres rather than a narrated event. It reads as an experiment in how sound shapes feeling.
Read Complete AnalysesThe bells! — ah, the bells! The little silver bells! How fairy-like a melody there floats From their throats. — From their merry little throats — From the silver, tinkling throats Of the bells, bells, bells — Of the bells! The bells! — ah, the bells! The heavy iron bells! How horrible a monody there floats From their throats — From their deep-toned throats — From their melancholy throats! How I shudder at the notes Of the bells, bells, bells — Of the bells!
Feel free to be first to leave comment.