“The Bells,” a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe, conveys a cheerful tone through distinct sounds and repetition of words. A deeply onomatopoeic poem, “The Bells” progresses after every stanza. Primarily, the alliteration, assonance, and onomatopoeia in the poem produce a happy tone; but, towards the end of the poem, the sound devices help establish a gloomier tone. In each stanza, the bells are made of a different metal substance. In the first stanza, the bells are described as silver. In this case, the bells are pleasant, precious, and strong. Moreover, the bells portray the stages in life. The first stanza explains a man’s happy childhood. The golden bells in the second stanza are an example of a man’s love life through marriage. The brazen bells in the third stanza depict the terror of a human’s life through aging, and the iron bells in the fourth stanza show the mourning and death of a human. To fulfill the sense of excitement and happiness throughout the first stanza, Poe uses repeating words and consonants, long vowels, and imitation of sounds. The alliteration, assonance, and onomatopoeia all contribute to the joyful and merry tone of “The Bells.” Edgar Allen Poe’s alliteration and repetition of words support the poem’s flow and musicality. Poe begins with the alliteration of the m sound in “merriment” and “melody” (3). The soft m sound, also known as a liquid consonant, helps to keep a quick and continuous pace for the poem. Similarly, the alliteration of the s sounds in sledges, silver, stars, and seem, emphasize the calming sounds of the bells (1-2, 6-7). The s sound helps express the soothing and comforting effects of the bells, essentially contributing to the merry tone of the poem. Furthermore, the alliteration of t... ... middle of paper ... ...em. Through the use of alliterations, assonances, and onomatopoeias, “The Bells” expresses a cheerful tone. As the poem progresses, the sounds change to suggest a progression of life. In stanza one, or the beginning of life, Poe’s alliterate words help the poem flow. Sequentially, the flow of the poem helps illustrate the delightfulness of the silver bells and their tinkling. Poe also includes the long i assonance to show the bells joyful ringing. The short e sound also contributes to the merry and delightful tone because it justifies the merry melody that the bells create. In conclusion, the onomatopoeia supports the musicality of the poem. Poe uses words such as tinkle jingling, and tintinnabulation to mimic the chiming of the bells. Ultimately, Edgar Allen Poe conveys a happy tone in “The Bells” through the use of alliterations, assonances, and onomatopoeias.
Many literary critics have observed and noted the use of single effect in Edgar Allan Poe’s works. In “The Raven,” Poe chooses single effect as a dominant attribute to the poem as a whole. Edgar Allan Poe is widely recognized for his use of darkness in many of his works. In “The Raven,” the darkness in the poem encourages the namelessness of Lenore and the despair of the speaker. The darkness the speaker sees beyond his door is actually Lenore. However, his beloved is still absent. The darkness the speaker sees is not only Lenore but it is also the dreaded raven. A shadow, which haunts his soul, is hidden in the darkness beyond his door. In the fifth stanza, it is no more a darkness but the word “Lenore” being echoed. In the sixth stanza, the haunting echo transforms into the wind and “nothing more!” In stanza 7, all the forms become a raven that speaks “Nevermore.” Poe also uses darkness in an effort to achieve clarity. The effort to differe...
The third part describes brazen bells and their terrible and turbulent tunes. Finally, the last part describes the sound of iron bells, and how they influence the world of solemn thought, but he describes the people inhabiting that world as neither brutes or humans, but ghouls instead. Although the dynamic flow of words in “The Bells” is different from other Poe's poems, and promotes cheerful and energetic emotions, Poe's words approach the topic from several emotional extremes. Poe describes the bells in four variations altogether – divine, harmonious, horrible, and melancholic. In my opinion, this is one example of how tradition had influenced Poe's work because these four types of bells can be correlated to the four eras of human development in the Greek mythology – the golden, silver, bronze, and iron age.
Even though Edgar Poe is most often remembered for his short stories, he considered himself first and foremost a poet, and many of his poems have directly influenced American culture in many ways than he thought. “He claims that “The Raven,” his most enduring and well-known poem, is as complex as a math problem and analyzes how a poem’s meter, length, rhyme and subject matter all contribute to its effect. His terror-fueled tales can be credited with influencing everyone from H.P. Lovecraft to Stephen King, not to mention the host of horror movies that sprung from the genre” (Brozak). Moreover, “Annabel Lee,” the last poem Poe wrote, has been translated into songs performed by both Joan Baez and Stevie Nicks, and lines from his poems -- especially
Poe utilises the device of trochaic octameter meaning that the trochee begins with a syllable that is stressed followed by a weak (unstressed) syllable (Study Institution, 2013). The overall aim of using trochaic octameter is to exaggerate the stressed words, creating hyperbole. Using the first two lines of the first stanza as an example, “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore…” it is evident that every pair of words is a trochee, a set of stressed and unstressed syllables (Dictionary.com, 2015). When hyperbole is apparent, it also allows the alliteration to be enhanced. In the fourteenth stanza, the first two lines exhibit these two devices working together, “Then methought the air grew denser, perfume from an unseen censer, Swung by Seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted
The. Edgar Poe or The Theme of the Clock? Poem: A Collection of Critical Essays.
Poe utilizes a gradual change in diction as the poem progresses. Initially, he begins the poem with melancholic diction when the narrator is falling asleep: “while I pondered, weak and weary,” “nodded, nearly napping,” and “of someone gently rapping” (1-4). The utilization of alliteration in these lines supply a song-like rhythm, which is soothing to the reader. This usage of diction conveys a mellow tone. Further into the poem, when the increasingly agitated narrator becomes vexed at the raven, he lashes out at the bird. Here, he states, “Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore! / Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken! / Leave my loneliness unbroken!--quit the bust above my door! / Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!” (98-101). Here, his uses archaic words and phrases such as “thee,” “Night’s Plutonian shore,” and “thy soul hath”. This usage of unorthodox language creates a theatrical, dramatic, and climactic effect, which leads to an impassioned tone. By presenting both tones, Poe is able to show the contrast between the two. This transformation from a tone that is mellow to one of frustration and anxiety represents the spiraling downward of the narrator’s mental state.
The use of alliteration, tone, mood, theme and other elements that construct a well balanced poem are in this piece of literature.
The beginning of the poem starts with a humorous tone. Kinnell begins his poem with a simile “snore like a bullhorn”, an “Irishman”, or playing “loud music” to express the idea of something that is really loud and noisy, but still cannot wake the son up as opposed to the child’s ability to wake up to “heavy breathing” and a “come-cry” (line1-7). The tone that the...
The ability of words to calm a child’s fears is shown in “A Barred Owl.” Additionally, the author conveys the idea that even though one may say everything is alright, what one makes up in one’s mind is often worse than reality. The rhyme scheme in “A Barred Owl” helps depict the simple and soothing tone of the poem. Not only the rhyme scheme but also the repetition of certain consonants and sounds such as, “the warping night air having brought the boom / of an owl’s voice into her darkened room” help emphasize Wilbur’s i...
What really makes the poem so powerful are the elements Poe uses. First he sets the scene, “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore-…” already it’s clear that it is late at night and a man is weak and tired trying to ease his sorrow by reading old books of “forgotten lore” (DiYanni 1173). Then the poem goes on to tell that there is a tapping at his chamber door. When he opens the door he is surprised to find, “Darkness there and nothing more” (1173). He whispers into the darkness “Lenore,” hoping that his lost love had returned, but all that was heard was, “an echo [that] murmured back the word, ‘Lenore!’”(1173). Angered and perplexed, he turns back into his chamber, suddenly there is a loud tapping at the window lattice. H...
Sound Devices help convey the poet’s message by appealing to the reader’s ears and dr...
The number of beats and stresses in each line during the poem are scattered, but this serves a purpose by letting ideas flow from one to another. Each idea is connected by using the word “ring” or “ringing.” The overall message of the poem is the constant “ringing” Turner remembers from war experiences affects his everyday life. Turners tone of voice in the beginning of the poem differs from the tone of the voice in end of the poem. In the first couple of lines Turner introduces what the ringing is and why it is constantly in his head. Then towards the end of the poem, Turner uses more vivid language to describe certain images and events he went through to get the constant ringing playing in his mind. For example, in the beginning, words like; “this ringing,” “bullet borne,” and “static,” are used to describe what the ringing represents, and what it can be compared to. Then in the end language like, “muzzle-flash,” and “gravestones,” describe images he remembers from war. The change in the language creates different atmospheres. In the beginning the reader just feels they are reading descriptive language, but the language in the end makes the reader feel they are there in the setting of the poem. This specific structure is important for ideas to flow
Throughout “Alone”, Poe uses various poetic devices to captivate his reader. For instance, Poe uses external rhyme throughout the poem, at the end of each pair of lines. Along with the use of rhyming, Poe also uses descriptive imagery. A m...
Poe uses apostrophe, alliteration, personification, repetition, and symbolism. Apostrophe is completely obvious in this poem. The man references Lenore multiple times, who has passed away and is no longer there for him. EXAMPLE. Alliteration is also present when he says "grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt" and "And the silken, sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain..."
The poem consists of an undeniable narrative structure. Told from the third person, Poe also uses symbolism to create a strong melancholy tone. For instance, both midnight and December symbolize an end of something and the hope of something new to happen. Another example is the chamber in which the narrator is placed, this is used to show the loneliness of the man.