The Washington herald., 1911-01-01
SlORlE@7 EAhC2u5
s POEn:S @>
The Bells"
EDGAR ALLAN
The Bells"
EDGAR ALLAN POE.

Hear the sleises with the bells
What a void of meniment their melody fOreteil!
How they tnkle tinkle. tinkle
In the icy air Of night!
While the stars that ovefsprinkh
All the heavens SEEM to twinkle
With . crystalline delight
Keeping time, time. time.
In a sort of Runic rhyme.
To the tintinnabulation that 50 musicaIy wells
From the bells. bells. bells, bells,
From s ~. @ iaaiiuS and the tinklins Of the BELLS
Hear the mellow wedding bells
Golden bells! -
What a world Of happiness and harmony fofeteiis'
Through the bamy air of night.
How they ring out their delight;
From the molten golden notes.
And all in tune
| What a liquid ditty floats
| To the ,urtJc-dove that listens while she sosts
On the moon!
| Oh. from out the sounding cells
What q g,ah Of enphouy volnminousiy wells!
| How it swels! How it dwells
On. the future how 1t tells
OF tho rapture that imrels
To the swinging and the ringing
I OF the bells BELLS bells.
| OF the bells. bells. bells, bells.
\ Bells bells. bells -,
] To the rhymins and the Ginning Of the bells.
! When Edgar Allan Poe wrote that odd
| conceit, "The Bells, the first two stanzas
of which are printed above, he was COM
pelled to rewrite it twice before 1t was
acceptable. and then he was nnapie &c
secure for his labor more than the paltry
sum of. S4,. 1t was paltry, for even
| when Poe attempted to sell this poetic
effort-in many ways it was a remark
able one-he had already gained con-
siderable reputation, both as story teller
and as poet When the original manu-
script was offered for sale, close to a
century after it was written, in Phlla
deiphia. the appreciation of the author
had risen to that extent that the pur-
chase. was compelled to pay S2,145 foi
it, Just ss.1O0. more :han its value al
the time of its writing. II Poe. In his
lifetime, had received as many hun
dreds OF dollars for the poem as the
lowncrs of the manuscript received thou'
sands for the mere autograph. and cor
rcspondingly as much FOR his other nj
lcrary efforts, the life of the poet would
no doubt have been comforted in its clos
ing days. or might even have been pro-
llonged to a green and useful old age.
To those VINO are well versed in tht
character of the life led by the poet. tht:
MAJ be doubted, for the reason that 1
would have been ar incentive to haV'
led his life into even more dissipatet
channels but this can hardly have beer
the result, for the dissipation whicl
ended with Poe's fatal debauch al balti
more, in June, 1884, was undoubtedi!
prompted by despair. and that dcspai
resulted partly from domestic and partl!
from financial troubles.
1t was to Mrs. Marie Louise Shew
who had befriended the poet in man.
Substantial ways, in his declining years
that Foe owed the suggestion tor ''Th
Bells" 1t is a strange fact that sh
had never found time TO read any o
the writings of the poet for whom sh
lfelt so deep an affection and sympathy
One day Poe called on her and said
i"Marie Louise, l have to write poem
have no feeling, no sentiment, no in
spiration-"
His hostess persuaded him to hav
some tea, which she served in the con
. servatory Through the open wlndo'
came the sound of church bells. Mr.:
Shew said. playfully: Here is paper
But the poet declined it, declaring:
Il so dislike the sound OF bells to-nlgh'
cannot write. I am exhausted.
The lady then took up the pen. anc
, pretending to initiate his handwriting
wrote: 1.-The Bells. by f. A. Poe Ine
in pure sportiveness. she added this line
The bells. the little silver bells.
Poe took the hint and expanded the I'm
into a stanZa of six lines. Then Mr'
Shew suggested for the next stanza:
THE heavy iron BELLS.
This Poe expanded into eleven add