Monday, November 30, 2020

Leo Lin, Period 6, 11/24/20, Cycle B

Aim: How does Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Bells” convey and reinforce the meaning

of the life cycle through his choice of poetic sounds and devices. 


Team Challenge: Name as many bells that you heard of in two minutes: In my group we said doorbells, church bells, cow bells, and bicycle bells, school bells, alarm clock bells, jingle bells, hand bells


Teams: 3,4, and 5 tied with 10 bells each


We then proceeded to read “Oh Woe is Poe”

Edgar Allan Poe | howtheycroaked


Edgar Allan Poe was a poet in the 1800s, most of the family he stayed with died of tuberculosis.  He was obsessed with the dead and eerie places and his stories were based on the dead.


We then proceeded to to relate images to Poe:


Sophia said that people thought Poe was drunk for four days, when he didn’t have alcohol in the hospital. He was later suspected to have died of rabies because rabies makes you seem drunk.


Angela said alcohol was related to alcohol because he was an alcoholic.


Annie said voting was related to Poe because Poe was part of an organization that would fraud votes by voting more than once.


Celeste said the tombstone is related to Poe because most of his family and loved ones including himself are dead.


Bang said that the detective picture was related to Poe because he had the first detective story.


We then read about poetic sound devices:

  • Cacophony: Cacophony comes from the Greek word meaning, “bad sound.”  Or Involving or producing a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds.  In other words, consider the noises you may hear on a crowded city street: cars honking, people yelling, dogs barking etc…

  • Explosive Consonants:  (k, t, g, d, p, b, q, c, x, ch-, sh- etc...) 

  • Hissing Sounds: (ch-, sh,  and s)


Highlight or underline words that are cacophonous, in the following examples. 

  1. Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!”  (“The Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll)

  2. “I gave him a description of cannons, culverins, muskets, carabines, pistols, bullets, powder, swords, bayonets, battles, sieges, retreats, attacks, undermines, countermines, bombardments…” 

(Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)


  • Euphonious: involving sounds that are soothing or pleasant to the ear.  It is the opposite of cacophony.

Highlight or underline words that are euphonious, in the following examples. 

  1. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” (“Ode to Autumn” by John Keats)

  2. “While the stars that oversprinkle/All the heavens seem to twinkle” (“The Bells” by Edgar Allen Poe)


  • Alliteration: A stylistic device in which consecutive words or words that occur close together in a series all begin with the same first consonant letter or sound

We then watched a Video on Alliteration


  • Onomatopoeia: A word which imitates the natural sound of a thing

We then watched a video on OnomatopoeiaHoney Bee Clip Art Drawing Buzzing Bees, PNG, 2048x1947px, Bee, Area, Art,  Beak, Beehive Download Free



  • Repetition: Repeating words, phrases, lines, or stanzas. Repetition is used to emphasize a feeling or idea, create rhythm, and/or develop a sense of urgency

  • Rhyme: a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words (especially common at the ends of words).  Rhyme is pleasing the ear and also lends a sense of rhythm and order to the language.

We reviewed with a Ted-Ed video called: The Pleasure of Poetic Pattern-David Silverstein


Then we started Reading “The Bells” By Edgar Allan Poe

“The Bells” By Edgar Allan Poe (YouTube)Golden Bells Images, Stock Photos & Vectors | Shutterstock


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 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 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 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 clamor and the clangor 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 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 pæan 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.



Analysis of “The Bells” by Edgar Allen Poe



ANALYSIS OF POETRY




Type of Bell:

What is this bell used for?

(denotation)


What are associations or feelings connected with this type of bell? (connotation)

Identify Sound Devices and Literary Devices Used 

(Provide textual examples)


Take Note of: Alliteration, repetition, onomatopoeia, euphony, cacophony, diction, figurative language etc.   

Analyze the Effect:

  • What is the effect of Poe’s use of these specific sound devices?

  • What is the overall mood expressed in this stanza? (How do the sound devices contribute to this?) 

Stanza 1: Silver Bells

Silver Bells are used for christmas, and has a positive connotation

Repetition: tinkle,tinkle,tinkle

Bells, bells, bells, of the bells.

Rhyme: wells, bells

Euphony: While the stars that oversprinkle

All the heavens, seem to twinkle

-The effect that this creates is a calming tone, that flows

-The overall mood expressed in this stanza is a merry, and mostly positive mood.

Stanza 2: Golden Bells

Golden Bells are used for Weddings, Golden bells have a Positive connotation

Euphony: Molten Golden Notes, What a gush of euphony voluminously wells! 

Repetition: Bells,Bells, Bells, Bells

Rhyme: Tells, Bells


-The effects of these specific word choices creates a happy, joyful setting.

- The Overall mood expressed in this Stanza is a joyful mood, the sound devices contributed to this mood because “golden notes” give off a very positive connotation which helps the overall mood to be joyful.

Stanza 3: Brazen Bells

Cacophony:How they scream out their affright!Too much horrified to speak,They can only shriek, shriek,

Repetition: Bells, Bells, Bells

  • The effects of these sound devices make brazen bells seem evil and is a mistake

  • The overall mood in this stanza is a negative mood. The sound devices contributed to this by the use of words like shriek, despair, scream, and horrified.

Stanza 4: Iron Bells

Cacophony:At the melancholy menace of their tone! or every sound that floats From the rust within their throats Is a groan. 

repetition:rolls,rolls,rolls



  • The effect of these sound devices make iron bells seem like a menace

  • The overall mood expressed in the stanza is a negative mood. The sound devices contribute to this by using words such as menace, groan, rust


  1. Analyze the first two stanzas. How do they compare, in terms of similarity? In terms of similarity, both the first and second stanza have a positive mood and the bells described are both described as good bells

  2. Now, compare the bells in stanzas 1 and 2 with the bells in stanzas 3 and 4. How does Poe” mood shift in his poem?

The bells in stanzas 1&2 are described positively while the bells in stanzas 3&4 are described negatively. Poe mood shift in his poem by describing something positive and then goes to describe something negative.

 How does Poe use sound devices to imitate the sound of bells?

    1. Compile a list of the devices you believe he used.

Poe uses sound devices to imitate the sound of the bells by describing the sound they make for example for golden bells he said “molten gold notes”

List of sound devices he used: cacophony, euphony, repetition, alliteration, figurative language







  1. This poem is as much about sound as it is about meaning.

  1. Why do you think Poe places a heavy emphasis on sound in this poem? 

  2. What message does it help to express?

  3. How is this poem symbolically a metaphor for life?

Poe places a heavy emphasis on sound in this poem to convey what each bell will sound like.

This helps to express that bells are a metaphor for life

This poem is symbolically a metaphor for life because each bell represents a different aspect of life, silver bells symbolizes birth, golden bells symbolizes youth, brazen bells symbolizes adulthood and iron bells symbolizes death 


Reflection: In this lesson, I learned about various sound devices such as cacophony, euphony, alliteration, and repetition. I also learned about the life of Edgar Allan Poe and read one of his works: “The Bells”. I learned this to broaden my knowledge of literature. I will use what I learned today to understand more about other literature that I’m going to read in the future.


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