The Bell
The Bell - meaning Summary
Bell as Life’s Summons
Emerson’s poem addresses a bell as a resonant symbol of calling and consolation. Its sound links everyday life, sea voyages, religious worship, and the final summons of death. The bell comforts the sailor, sanctifies communal memory, and prepares the speaker for his own requiem. The closing stanza folds personal mortality into the bell’s wind-swept sound, uniting individual fate with familiar landscape and communal tradition.
Read Complete AnalysesI love thy music, mellow bell, I love thine iron chime, To life or death, to heaven or hell, Which calls the sons of Time. Thy voice upon the deep The home-bound sea-boy hails, It charms his cares to sleep, It cheers him as he sails. To house of God and heavenly joys Thy summons called our sires, And good men thought thy sacred voice Disarmed the thunder's fires. And soon thy music, sad death-bell, Shall lift its notes once more, And mix my requiem with the wind That sweeps my native shore.
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