Onomatopoeia Poem ANalysis
featuring: Bells, by Edgar Allan Poe
And Fear
Bells, by Edgar Allan Poefound on Poestories.com
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 of Runic rhyme, To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells -- From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells. 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 ! Hear the loud alarum bells -- Brazen bells ! What 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 endeavor 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 ! 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 meaning 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, Rolls A pæan from the bells ! And his merry bosom swells With the pæan of the bells ! And he dances, and he yells ; Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the pæan 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. Poem AnalysisThis famous poem, by Edgar Allan Poe, is a perfect example of a poem that uses onomatopoeia. The whole poem has 655 words, and has 115 lines, and 4 stanzas. Each line is meant to have it's own sound, and a way that Poe made the sounds of the lines more powerful is by using a lot of onomatopoeia. An example of the onomatopoeia used are words like "tinkle"(line4), and jingle(line 14.) these words are repeated, and many more words that use onomatopoeia are added to create a sudden transition from a happy mood, to totally sad, painful, and scary mood. this is shown by how it starts off as the tinkling and jingling of silver bells, and then on the second stanza, the calm beautiful wedding bells of gold, and then on the third stanza it takes a sharp turn right at the beginning with alarm bells of brass, that are used to show emergency, to show an alarming scary mood that makes the heart beat fast, and finally it finishes off with the sad, sorrow iron bells, implying someone's death. Then Poe goes on to talk about ghouls that are happy to ring the bells of sorrow. Whenever Poe repeats the word bells, the sound of the bells play in the mind. Poe manipulates that sound, changing it. For example when he talks about the tinkle, and jingle of the bells, you would think of a christmas carol, a happy ring in your ears. When Poe talks about the gold wedding bells their soothing, beautiful, and mellow sounds play in your head, therefore changing the mood. And all of a sudden, he goes on to talk about the alarming brass bells used in an emergency. This gives a sudden jolt in the heart, terrifying you with the word choice, like "What a clang, and clash and roar, what a horror they outpour" changing the mood to a frightening, and scary mood. At the end, the poet talks about the groaning and moaning of the iron bells, and the ghoul king, hysterically laughing creating a mood that makes you feel hysterical and insane, feeling terrified, happy, and sad all at the same time.
My Own PoemFear
The heart feels like a sledgehammer Beating Bang Bang Bang You run in fear Holding in your tears The body shivers It quivers, Like a clinging, and clanging Shrieking in your ears Footsteps hitting the ground The thumping sound they make The queer power That was caused by such great fear Raindrops pouring down Each drop makes a sound louder than a million drums thump....thump...thump |