Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Flower-de-luce: the Bells of Lynn

Flower-de-luce: the Bells of Lynn - meaning Summary

Evening Bells Summon Nature

Longfellow addresses the bells of Lynn as an evening curfew that shapes an entire coastal landscape. Their sound travels from belfries across sea and shore, guiding fishermen, cattle, and lighthouses, and stirring the surf. The poem links ordinary nightly routines with uncanny, poetic imagination: the bells’ music seems to summon the moon and evoke a prophetic, supernatural vision, blending domestic calm with a touch of eerie wonder.

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O curfew of the setting sun! O Bells of Lynn! O requiem of the dying day! O Bells of Lynn! From the dark belfries of yon cloud-cathedral wafted, Your sounds aerial seem to float, O Bells of Lynn! Borne on the evening wind across the crimson twilight, O'er land and sea they rise and fall, O Bells of Lynn! The fisherman in his boat, far out beyond the headland, Listens, and leisurely rows ashore, O Bells of Lynn! Over the shining sands the wandering cattle homeward Follow each other at your call, O Bells of Lynn! The distant lighthouse hears, and with his flaming signal Answers you, passing the watchword on, O Bells of Lynn! And down the darkening coast run the tumultuous surges, And clap their hands, and shout to you, O Bells of Lynn! Till from the shuddering sea, with your wild incantations, Ye summon up the spectral moon, O Bells of Lynn! And startled at the sight like the weird woman of Endor, Ye cry aloud, and then are still, O Bells of Lynn!

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