Use Of Sound In Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Bells'

Sound. Vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard when they reach a person's or animal's ear. However, different vibrations make different tones which incidentally lead to different emotions caused by the brain and it’s way to perceive dangerous or uneasy situations. “The Bells” was crafted by Edgar Allan Poe. The bells are used as a representation to the emotions the reader receives through the story. Poe uses a variety of bells and noises to create a sense of uneasiness for the reader. From the light hearted tinkles and twinkles of the light hearted Christmas bells to the massive iron bells that slowly ring “in the silence of the night” (Poe). In The Bells, Poe goes through a variety of sounds and how they affect …show more content…
Throughout the entire poem itself, Poe uses alliteration to enunciate how each group of bells has a different effect on an emotion people have. In the second stanza, for example, Poe talks about the golden bells and how they show “a world of happiness their harmony foretells!” (Poe). In the third stanza, where the brazen bells are introduced, talks about how they are “a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!” (Poe). It shows the urgency and impending danger from the noise those specific bells bring. Poe also uses onomatopoeia to create noises similar to what an actual bell would sound like. In the first stanza Poe uses “tinkle” and “jingling” to show the soft sound they create. The third stanza says, “How they clang, and clash, and roar!” (Poe). Figures of speech show up frequently all through the …show more content…
In the first two stanzas, Poe uses cheery sounds and words to give off the happy and warm feeling. He talks about how “the stars that oversprinkle all the heavens” and “how they ring out their delight! From the molten-golden notes, and all in tune... “ (Poe). In the third and fourth stanza Poe makes the tone more dramatic by the way and the sounds the bells ring. The brazen bells, in the third stanza, are loud and obnoxious that bring terror. Poe writes, “In the startled ear of night How they scream out their affright! Too much horrified to speak, They can only shriek, shriek, Out the tune, In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of fire- In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire, leaping higher, higher, higher, With a desperate desire…” (Poe). The fourth stanza you hear the iron bells which bring with them “a world of solemn thought their monody compels! In the silence of the night How we shiver with affright At the melancholy meaning of the tone!” (Poe). Within those two stanzas the poem reaches the most suspenseful and climatic part, and when you reach the middle to the end of the fourth stanza everything appears to go quiet, as if there is nothing left to give. Appearing as though the iron bells sucked out every last glimpse of happiness, love, and warmth and crushed it beneath the hatred, death, and bitter

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Use Of Sound In Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Bells'

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