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Bells and Other Poems

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<div class="cover"> <ANTIMG src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" /></div> <h1>THE BELLS AND OTHER POEMS</h1> <div class="transnote"> Transcriber's Note: You may click on the plates to view a larger version </div> <hr class="r15" /> <div class="plate"> <ANTIMG src="images/pl01.jpg" alt=""/></div> The Bells <hr class="full" /> <h1>THE BELLS and other Poems</h1> BY EDGAR ALLAN POE   WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY EDMUND DULAC   <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/t00.jpg" width-obs="200" height-obs="239" alt="" /></div> HODDER AND STOUGHTON NEW YORK AND LONDON <hr class="full" /> <h2>CONTENTS</h2> The Bells Eulalie—A Song Annabel Lee Sonnet—Silence The Raven To one in Paradise Lenore Dreams To Helen (I saw thee once—once only—years ago) The Haunted Palace A Dream within a Dream The City in the Sea To F—— The Sleeper Ulalume Romance Sonnet—to Science Eldorado To M.—— (O! I care not that my earthly lot) The Conqueror Worm Sonnet—To Zante To M. L. S.—— To the River—— A Dream Al Aaraaf To F——s S. O——d Bridal Ballad To my Mother To Helen (Helen, thy beauty is to me) The Valley of Unrest The Lake—To—— The Happiest Day, the Happiest Hour Catholic Hymn To —— —— (Not long ago, the writer of these lines) Evening Star Stanzas Spirits of the Dead Israfel Song (I saw thee on thy bridal day) To—— (The bowers whereat, in dreams, I see) Fairy-land The Coliseum Dreamland For Annie Alone Tamerlane <hr class="full" /> <div></div> <div class="fighead"> <ANTIMG src="images/t01.jpg" alt="" /></div> <h2>THE BELLS</h2> I. Hear the sledges with the bells— Silver bells! What a world of merriment their melody foretells! How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, In the icy air of night! While the stars, that oversprinkle All the heavens, seem to twinkle With  a crystalline delight; Keeping time, time, time, In a sort if Runic rhyme, To the tintinabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells,— From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells. II. Hear the mellow wedding bells, Golden bells! What a world of happiness their harmony foretells! Through the balmy 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 turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats On the moon! Oh, from out the sounding cells, What a gush of euphony voluminously wells! How it swells! How it dwells On the Future! how it tells Of the rapture that impels To the swinging and the ringing Of the bells, bells, bells, Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells— To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells! <hr class="r15" /> <div class="plate"> <ANTIMG src="images/pl02.jpg" alt="" /></div> The Bells <hr class="r15" /> III. Hear the loud alarum bells— Brazen bells! What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells! In the startled ear of night How they scream out their affright! Too much horrified to speak They can only shriek, shriek, Out of tune, In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire, In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire, Leaping higher, higher, higher, With a desperate desire, And a resolute endeavour. Now—now to sit or never, By the side of the pale-faced moon. Oh, the bells, bells, bells! What a tale their terror tells Of Despair! How they clang, and clash, and roar! What a horror they outpour On the bosom of the palpitating air! Yet the ear it fully knows, By the twanging, And the clanging, How the danger ebbs and flows: Yet the ear distinctly tells, In the jangling, And the wrangling, How the danger sinks and swells, By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells— Of the bells— Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells— In the clamour and the clangour of the bells! IV. Hear the tolling of the bells— Iron bells! What a world of solemn thought their monody compels! In the silence of the night, How we shiver with affright At the melancholy menace of their tone! For every sound that floats From the rust within their throats Is a groan. And the people—ah, the people— They that dwell up in the steeple, All alone, And who, tolling, tolling, tolling, In that muffled monotone, Feel a glory in so rolling On the human heart a stone— They are neither man nor woman— They are neither brute nor human— They are Ghouls: And their king it is who tolls; And he rolls, rolls, rolls, Rolls A paean from the bells! And his merry bosom swells With the paean of the bells! And he dances, and he yells; Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the paean of the bells— Of the bells: Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the throbbing of the bells Of the bells, bells, bells— To the sobbing of the bells; Keeping time, time, time, As he knells, knells, knells, In a happy Runic rhyme, To the rolling of the bells— Of the bells, bells, bells: To the tolling of the bells, Of the bells, bells, bells, bells— Bells, bells, bells— To the moaning and the groaning of the bells. <hr class="r15" /> <div class="plate"> <ANTIMG src="images/pl03.jpg" alt="" /></div> The Bells <hr class="r65" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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