Thursday, April 15, 2021

Blogger #3 - Ryan Chia - Period 1 - 4/13/2021 - Day A

(***Asynchronous Class***)


Aim:
How does Edgar Allan Poe’s, “The Bells” convey and reinforce the meaning of the life cycle through his choice of poetic sound devices?

Do Now: 

Create a list of ALL the kinds/types of bells you’ve ever heard. All of your information should be identical on your teammates documents. The Team to create a list with the most amount WINS the points!!! You have only 2 Minutes!

When I think of bells, the first thing that comes to mind are the big and extravagant ones. There are church bells, wedding bells, and the famous Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Then we have smaller bells like doorbells, cow-bells, bicycle bells, handbells, call bells, and the classic jingle bells.




Lesson Notes:


Edgar Allen Poe incorporates poetic sound devices when writing poems. One example of which is in his poem “The Bell”.


Poetic sound devices convey and reinforce meaning (or experience) through the use of sound.
There are 6 types of poetic sound devices:

  • Cacophony

Cacophony comes from the Greek word meaning, “bad sound.” Or Involving or producing a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds.
Involves explosive consonants (k, t, g, d, p, b, q, c, x) and hissing sounds (ch-, sh, and s)
Cacophony can be used to convey dark feelings/thoughts, harsh or loud noises, chaos, violence or fear.

  • Euphony

Involves sounds that are soothing or pleasant to the ear. It is the opposite of cacophony.
It includes all the vowels.
It has harmonious consonants. (l, m, n, r and softer f and v, sounds)
It uses soft consonants or semi-vowels extensively to create more pleasant sounds. (w, s, y and th or wh)
Euphony is used to make language sound beautiful and melodic. If a writer is describing something they want to make seem attractive, pleasant, or beautiful, one of the best ways of achieving this is to make the language itself sound harmonious.

  • 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.

(ex. Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers.)

Red Room Poetry Object Poetic Device #1: Alliteration [2:00]

  • Onomatopoeia 

  • A word which imitates the natural sound of a thing.

(ex. Boom, Splat, Pow, Wham)

Red Room Poetry Object Poetic Device #4: Onomatopoeia [2:36]

  • 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.

(ex. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.)

  • 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.
  • There are two types of rhyme: 

- Perfect rhyme:
Occurs when stressed syllables of the words, along with all subsequent syllables, share identical sounds (ex: pencil" and "stencil”)
- Imperfect rhyme

Involves the repetition of similar sounds that are not quite as precise as perfect rhyme (ex: “uptown” and “frown”)

The pleasure of poetic pattern - David Silverstein [4:46]


“The Bells” By Edgar Allan Poe


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.


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!

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 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!


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 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 Poetry:

Team Group Work Questions:

  1. Analyze the first two stanzas. How do they compare, in terms of similarity?

Both stanzas are similar in that they both convey a happy atmosphere regarding bells. The first stanza talks about the mysterious and melodic sounds made by a silver bell. The second stanza talks about the warm and gentle sounds made by a wedding bell.


2.Now, compare the bells in stanzas 1 and 2 with the bells in stanzas 3 and 4. How does Poe’s mood shift in his poem?
In stanzas 3 and 4, the mood shifts to a more depressing and darker side. Stanza 3 talks about the bells that ring in the conflict during a fire. (“What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!”, “How they scream out their affright!”) Stanza 4 talks about the cacophonous and miserable sounds of a bell. (“At the melancholy menace of their tone!”, “From the rust within their throats is a groan.”)

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

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

He uses sound devices to imitate the ringing of bells.

  • Cacophony: Harsh and depressing sounds of bells

  • Euphony: Pleasant and gentle sounds of bells

  • Alliteration: Creates a melodic flow of the sounds of bells

  • Repetition: Emphasizes the jingles of bells

  • Rhyme: Creates flow for poem


  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?

I think Poe places a heavy emphasis on sound in this poem because he wanted to distinguish the unique sounds produced by each of the four bells. It helps express the message that bells have “personalities”. They are different in their own ways and produce sounds based on who they are. This poem is symbolically a metaphor for life because music can be a reflection of our lives. At the beginning of the poem, the bells were in their youth, and ringing carelessly and happily. Towards the end of the poem, the bells were in their later stage of life. They start to lose their innocence and eventually “die” out.



Reflection:




During today’s asynchronous lesson, I learned about the different types of poetic sound devices and its use in the poem “The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe. The poetic sound devices are cacophony, euphony, alliteration, onomatopoeia, repetition, and rhyme. Cacophony involves or produces a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds. It is often used to convey dark feelings and thoughts. Euphony is the opposite of cacophony and involves sounds that are soothing or pleasant to the ear. It is used to make language sound beautiful and melodic. It is also used to describe something attractive, pleasant, or beautiful. Alliteration uses consecutive words or words that occur close together where all begin with the same first consonant letter or sound. Onomatopoeia is the use of words to imitate the natural sounds of things. Repetition is the use of repeating words, phrases, lines, or stanzas to emphasize a feeling or idea, create rhythm, and/or develop a sense of urgency. Rhyme is the repetition of similar sounds in two or more words and can be separated into perfect rhyme and imperfect rhyme. Perfect rhyme occurs when stressed syllables of the words, along with all subsequent syllables, share identical sounds. Imperfect rhyme involves the repetition of similar sounds that are not quite as precise as perfect rhyme. I learned today’s lesson contents in order to broaden my knowledge and understanding of the use of poetic sound devices in poems. Poetic sound devices add rhythm and flow to poems, making them more interesting. They create emotional responses in readers. It also helps poets convey and reinforce meaning through sound. All in all, poetic sound devices add life to poems. I will use what I learned today to improve the poems that I write in the future. In order to accurately express my thoughts and bring my poem to life, I will use the different aspects of poetic sound devices. Poetic sound devices will also help me better interpret other poets’ poems. I will be able to point out what feelings and thoughts the author is attempting to convey.




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