The Bells

The Bells, poem by Edgar Allan Poe, published posthumously in the magazine Sartain’s Union (November 1849). Written at the end of Poe’s life, this incantatory poem examines bell sounds as symbols of four milestones of human experience—childhood, youth, maturity, and death. “The Bells” is composed of four stanzas of increasing length and is a showcase of onomatopoeia, alliteration, repetition, and assonance. The first stanza, a study of merry sleigh bells, is followed by a stanza...