Annotate the following: positive and negative connotation (+ or -); figurative language (underline and

label); and tone (per stanza).

Name ________________________________________ Date ______________________

“The Bells”
by Edgar Allen Poe

i
Hear the sledges with the bells— 1 What is the central idea of the
Silver bells! first stanza?
What a world of merriment their melody foretells! ________________________
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, ________________________
In the icy air of night! 5 ________________________
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, 10 What is the tone of the first
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells stanza?
From the bells, bells, bells, bells, ________________________
Bells, bells, bells— ________________________
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.
________________________
________________________
___________________
ii
Hear the mellow wedding bells, 15 What is the central idea of the
Golden bells! second stanza?
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, 20
________________________
And all in tune,
___________________
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
On the moon! What is the tone of the second
Oh, from out the sounding cells, 25 stanza?
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells! ________________________
How it swells! ________________________
How it dwells
________________________
On the Future! how it tells
________________________
Of the rapture that impels 30
___________________
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! 35

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Name ________________________________________ Date ______________________

iii Line 38 contains what form of

Hear the loud alarum bells— figurative language?
Brazen bells! _______________________
What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells! _______________________
In the startled ear of night _______________________
How they scream out their affright! 40 _______________________
Too much horrified to speak,
__________________
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune, Lines 40-41 contain what form
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire, of figurative language?
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire, 45 _______________________
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. 50 __________________

Oh, the bells, bells, bells!

What a tale their terror tells Line 54 contains what form of
Of Despair! figurative language?
How they clang, and clash, and roar! _______________________
What a horror they outpour 55 _______________________
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: 60
What is the central idea of the
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
third stanza?
In the jangling,
And the wrangling, ________________________

How the danger sinks and swells, ________________________

By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells— 65 ________________________
Of the bells— ________________________
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, ___________________
Bells, bells, bells—
In the clamor and the clangor of the bells! What is the tone of the third
stanza?
________________________
iv ________________________
Hear the tolling of the bells— 70 ________________________
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! 75
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
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Name ________________________________________ Date ______________________

Is a groan.
And the people—ah, the people—
They that dwell up in the steeple, 80
All Alone
And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so rolling
On the human heart a stone— 85
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, 90
Rolls
A paean from the bells!
And his merry bosom swells
With the paean of the bells!
And he dances, and he yells; 95
Keeping time, time, time,
What is the central idea of the
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the paean of the bells— fourth stanza?
Of the bells: ________________________
Keeping time, time, time, 100 ________________________
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, 105
As he knells, knells, knells, What is the tone of the fourth

In a happy Runic rhyme, stanza?

To the rolling of the bells— ________________________
Of the bells, bells, bells: ________________________
To the tolling of the bells, 110 ________________________
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells— ________________________
Bells, bells, bells— ___________________
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells

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DIRECTIONS: Write 1-2 paragraphs in response to the following questions. Be sure to use evidence from
the poem to support each of your answers.

1. Describe the effect the author’s use of figurative language has on the poem. Use 2-3 examples from the
poem to support your answer.
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2. Explain how the tone develops throughout the poem. Use 2-3 examples from the poem to support your
answer.
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