The Bells and Other Poems
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THE BELLS
IHear 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 oversprinkleAll the heavens, seem to twinkleWith a crystalline delight;Keeping time, time, time,In a sort if Runic rhyme,To the tintinabulation that so musically wellsFrom the bells, bells, bells, bells,Bells, bells, bells, —From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.IIHear the mellow wedding bells,Golden bells!What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!Through the balmy air of nightHow they ring out their delight!From the molten golden-notes,And all in tune,What a liquid ditty floatsTo the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloatsOn the moon!Oh, from out the sounding cells,What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!How it swells!How it dwellsOn the Future! how it tellsOf the rapture that impelsTo the swinging and the ringingOf the bells, bells, bells,Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,Bells, bells, bells —To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!IIIHear the loud alarum bells —Brazen bells!What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!In the startled ear of nightHow they scream out their affright!Too much horrified to speakThey 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 endeavour.Now – now to sit or never,By the side of the pale-faced moon.Oh, the bells, bells, bells!What a tale their terror tellsOf Despair!How they clang, and clash, and roar!What a horror they outpourOn 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!IVHear 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 affrightAt the melancholy menace of their tone!For every sound that floatsFrom the rust within their throatsIs 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 rollingOn 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,RollsA paean from the bells!And his merry bosom swellsWith 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 bellsOf 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.EULALIE – A SONG
I dwelt aloneIn a world of moan,And my soul was a stagnant tide,Till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride —Till the yellow-haired young Eulalie became my smiling bride.Ah, less – less brightThe stars of the nightThan the eyes of the radiant girl!And never a flakeThat the vapour can makeWith the moon-tints of purple and pearl,Can vie with the modest Eulalie's most unregarded curl —Can compare with the bright-eyed Eulalie’s most humble and careless curl.Now doubt – now PainCome never again,For her soul gives me sigh for sigh,And all day longShines, bright and strong,Astarté within the sky,While ever to her dear Eulalie upturns her matron eye —While ever to her young Eulalie upturns her violet eye.ANNABEL LEE
It was many and many a year ago,In a kingdom by the sea,That a maiden there lived whom you may knowBy the name of Annabel Lee;And this maiden she lived with no other thoughtThan to love and be loved by me.I was a child and she was a child,In this kingdom by the sea;But we loved with a love which was more than love —I and my Annabel Lee;With a love that the wingèd seraphs of heavenCoveted her and me.And this was the reason that, long ago,In this kingdom by the sea,A wind blew out of a cloud, chillingMy beautiful Annabel Lee;So that her highborn kinsmen cameAnd bore her away from me,To shut her up in a sepulchreIn this kingdom by the sea.The angels, not half so happy in heaven,Went envying her and me —Yes! – that was the reason (as all men know,In this kingdom by the sea)That the wind came out of the cloud by night,Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.But our love it was stronger by far than the loveOf those who were older than we —Of many far wiser than we —And neither the angels in heaven above,Nor the demons down under the sea,Can ever dissever my soul from the soulOf the beautiful Annabel Lee.For the moon never beams without bringing me dreamsOf the beautiful Annabel Lee;And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyesOf the beautiful Annabel Lee;And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the sideOf my darling – my darling – my life and my bride,In her sepulchre there by the sea,In her tomb by the sounding sea.SONNET – SILENCE
There are some qualities – some incorporate things,That have a double life, which thus is madeA type of that twin entity which springsFrom matter and light, evinced in solid and shade.There is a two-fold Silence– sea and shore —Body and soul. One dwells in lonely places,Newly with grass o'ergrown; some solemn graces,Some human memories and tearful lore,Render him terrorless: his name's "No More."He is the corporate Silence: dread him not!No power hath he of evil in himself;But should some urgent fate (untimely lot!)Bring thee to meet his shadow (nameless elf,That haunteth the lone regions where hath trodNo foot of man), commend thyself to God!THE RAVEN
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door —Only this, and nothing more."Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.Eagerly I wished the morrow; – vainly I had sought to borrowFrom my books surcease of sorrow – sorrow for the lost Lenore —For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore —Nameless here for evermore.And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtainThrilled me – filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,"'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door —Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; —This it is, and nothing more."Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,That I scarce was sure I heard you," – here I opened wide the door; —Darkness there, and nothing more.Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore!"This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!" —Merely this, and nothing more.Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before."Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice:Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore —Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; —'Tis the wind and nothing more."Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore;Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door —Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door —Perched, and sat, and nothing more.Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven,Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore —Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!"Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,Though its answer little meaning – little relevancy bore;For we cannot help agreeing that no living human beingEver yet was blest with seeing bird above his chamber door —Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,With such name as "Nevermore."But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke onlyThat one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.Nothing further then he uttered – not a feather then he fluttered —Till I scarcely more than muttered, "other friends have flown before —On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before."Then the bird said, "Nevermore."Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store,Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful DisasterFollowed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore —Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden boreOf 'Never – nevermore'."But the Raven still beguiling all my fancy into smiling,Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;Then upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linkingFancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore —What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yoreMeant in croaking "Nevermore."This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressingTo the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease recliningOn the cushion's velvet lining that the lamplight gloated o'er,But whose velvet violet lining with the lamplight gloating o'er,She shall press, ah, nevermore!Then methought the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censerSwung by Seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor."Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee – by these angels he hath sent theeRespite – respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore!Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore.""Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! – prophet still, if bird or devil! —Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted —On this home by horror haunted – tell me truly, I implore —Is there —is there balm in Gilead? – tell me – tell me, I implore!"Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore.""Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil – prophet still, if bird or devil!By that Heaven that bends above us – by that God we both adore —Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore —Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore."Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore.""Be that word our sign in parting, bird or fiend," I shrieked, upstarting —"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!Leave my loneliness unbroken! – quit the bust above my door!Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sittingOn the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floorShall be lifted – nevermore!TO ONE IN PARADISE
Thou wast all that to me, love,For which my soul did pine —A green isle in the sea, love,A fountain and a shrine,All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers,And all the flowers were mine.Ah, dream to bright to last!Ah, starry Hope! that didst ariseBut to be overcast!A voice from out the Future cries,"On! on!" – but o'er the Past(Dim gulf!) my spirit hovering liesMute, motionless, aghast!For, alas! alas! with meThe light of Life is o'er!"No more – no more – no more – "(Such language holds the solemn seaTo the sands upon the shore)Shall bloom the thunder-blasted treeOr the stricken eagle soar!And all my days are trances,And all my nightly dreamsAre where thy grey eye glances,And where thy footstep gleams —In what ethereal dances,By what eternal streams.LENORE
Ah, broken is the golden bowl! the spirit flown forever!Let the bell toll! – a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river;And, Guy de Vere, hast thou no tear? – weep now or nevermore!See! on yon drear and rigid bier low lies thy love, Lenore!Come! let the burial rite be read – the funeral song be sung! —An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young —A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young."Wretches! ye loved her for her wealth and hated her for her pride.And when she fell in feeble health, ye blessed her – that she died!How shall the ritual, then, be read? – the requiem how be sungBy you – by yours, the evil eye, – by yours, the slanderous tongueThat did to death the innocence that died, and died so young?"Peccavimus; but rave not thus! and let a Sabbath songGo up to God so solemnly the dead may feel no wrongThe sweet Lenore hath "gone before," with Hope, that flew beside,Leaving thee wild for the dear child that should have been thy bride —For her, the fair and debonair, that now so lowly lies,The life upon her yellow hair but not within her eyes —The life still there, upon her hair – the death upon her eyes."Avaunt! avaunt! from fiends below, the indignant ghost is riven —From Hell unto a high estate far up within the Heaven —From grief and groan, to a golden throne, beside the King of Heaven!Let no bell toll, then, – lest her soul, amid its hallowed mirth,Should catch the note as it doth float up from the damnèd Earth!And I! – to-night my heart is light! – no dirge will I upraise,But waft the angel on her flight with a Paean of old days!"DREAMS
Oh! that my young life were a lasting dream!My spirit not awakening, till the beamOf an Eternity should bring the morrow.Yes! tho' that long dream were of hopeless sorrow,'Twere better than the cold realityOf waking life, to him whose heart must be,And hath been still, upon the lovely earth,A chaos of deep passion, from his birth.But should it be – that dream eternallyContinuing – as dreams have been to meIn my young boyhood – should it thus be given,'Twere folly still to hope for higher Heaven.For I have revell'd, when the sun was brightI' the summer sky, in dreams of living lightAnd loveliness, – have left my very heartIn climes of my imagining, apartFrom mine own home, with beings that have beenOf mine own thought – what more could I have seen?'Twas once – and only once – and the wild hourFrom my remembrance shall not pass – some powerOr spell had bound me – 'twas the chilly windCame o'er me in the night, and left behindIts image on my spirit – or the moonShone on my slumbers in her lofty noonToo coldly – or the stars – howe'er it wasThat dream was as that night-wind – let it pass.I have been happy, tho' in a dream.I have been happy – and I love the theme:Dreams! in their vivid colouring of life,As in that fleeting, shadowy, misty strifeOf semblance with reality, which bringsTo the delirious eye, more lovely thingsOf Paradise and Love – and all our own!Than young Hope in his sunniest hour hath known.TO HELEN
[Helen was Mrs. Whitman.]I saw thee once – once only – years ago:I must not say how many – but not many.It was a July midnight; and from outA full-orbed moon, that, like thine own soul, soaring,Sought a precipitate pathway up through heaven,There fell a silvery-silken veil of light,With quietude, and sultriness, and slumber,Upon the upturned faces of a thousandRoses that grew in an enchanted garden,Where no wind dared to stir, unless on tiptoe —Fell on the upturn'd faces of these rosesThat gave out, in return for the love-light,Their odorous souls in an ecstatic death —Fell on the upturn'd faces of these rosesThat smiled and died in this parterre, enchantedBy thee, and by the poetry of thy presence.Clad all in white, upon a violet bankI saw thee half-reclining; while the moonFell on the upturn'd faces of the roses,And on thine own, upturn'd – alas, in sorrow!Was it not Fate, that, on this July midnight —Was it not Fate, (whose name is also Sorrow,)That bade me pause before that garden-gate,To breathe the incense of those slumbering roses?No footstep stirred: the hated world all slept,Save only thee and me. (Oh, Heaven! – oh, GodHow my heart beats in coupling those two words!)Save only thee and me. I paused – I looked —And in an instant all things disappeared.(Ah, bear in mind this garden was enchanted!)The pearly lustre of the moon went out:The mossy banks and the meandering paths,The happy flowers and the repining trees,Were seen no more: the very roses' odoursDied in the arms of the adoring airs.All – all expired save thee – save less than thou:Save only the divine light in thine eyes —Save but the soul in thine uplifted eyes.I saw but them – they were the world to me!I saw but them – saw only them for hours,Saw only them until the moon went down.What wild heart-histories seemed to lie enwrittenUpon those crystalline, celestial spheres!How dark a woe, yet how sublime a hope!How silently serene a sea of pride!How daring an ambition; yet how deep —How fathomless a capacity for love!But now, at length, dear Dian sank from sight,Into a western couch of thunder-cloud;And thou, a ghost, amid the entombing treesDidst glide away. Only thine eyes remained;They would not go – they never yet have gone;Lighting my lonely pathway home that night,They have not left me (as my hopes have) since;They follow me – they lead me through the years.They are my ministers – yet I their slave.Their office is to illumine and enkindle —My duty, to be saved by their bright light,And purified in their electric fire,And sanctified in their elysian fire.They fill, my soul with Beauty (which is Hope),And are far up in Heaven – the stars I kneel toIn the sad, silent watches of my night;While even in the meridian glare of dayI see them still – two sweetly scintillantVenuses, unextinguished by the sun!THE HAUNTED PALACE
In the greenest of our valleysBy good angels tenanted,Once a fair and stately palace —Radiant palace – reared its head.In the monarch Thought's dominion —It stood there!Never seraph spread a pinionOver fabric half so fair!Banners yellow, glorious, golden,On its roof did float and flow,(This – all this – was in the oldenTime long ago,)And every gentle air that dallied,In that sweet day,Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,A wingèd odour went away.Wanderers in that happy valley,Through two luminous windows, sawSpirits moving musically,To a lute's well-tuned law,Round about a throne where, sitting(Porphyrogene!)In state his glory well befitting,The ruler of the realm was seen.And all with pearl and ruby glowingWas the fair palace door,Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing,And sparkling evermore,A troop of Echoes, whose sweet dutyWas but to sing,In voices of surpassing beauty,The wit and wisdom of their king.But evil things, in robes of sorrow,Assailed the monarch's high estate.(Ah, let us mourn! – for never morrowShall dawn upon him desolate!)And round about his home the gloryThat blushed and bloomed,Is but a dim-remembered storyOf the old time entombed.And travellers, now, within that valley,Through the red-litten windows seeVast forms, that move fantasticallyTo a discordant melody,While, like a ghastly rapid river,Through the pale doorA hideous throng rush out for everAnd laugh – but smile no more.A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM
Take this kiss upon the brow!And, in parting from you now,Thus much let me avow —You are not wrong, who deemThat my days have been a dream;Yet if hope has flown awayIn a night, or in a day,In a vision, or in none,Is it therefore the less gone?All that we see or seemIs but a dream within a dream.I stand amid the roarOf a surf-tormented shore,And I hold within my handGrains of the golden sand —How few! yet how they creepThrough my fingers to the deep,While I weep – while I weep!O God! can I not graspThem with a tighter clasp?O God! can I not saveOne from the pitiless wave?Is all that we see or seemBut a dream within a dream?THE CITY IN THE SEA
Lo! Death has reared himself a throneIn a strange city lying aloneFar down within the dim West,Where the good and the bad and the worst and the bestHave gone to their eternal rest.There shrines and palaces and towers(Time-eaten towers that tremble not!)Resemble nothing that is ours.Around, by lifting winds forgot,Resignedly beneath the skyThe melancholy waters lie.No rays from the holy heaven come downOn the long night-time of that town;But light from out the lurid seaStreams up the turrets silently —Gleams up the pinnacles far and free —Up domes – up spires – up kingly halls —Up fanes – up Babylon-like walls —Up shadowy long-forgotten bowersOf sculptured ivy and stone flowers —Up many and many a marvellous shrineWhose wreathèd friezes intertwineThe viol, the violet, and the vine.Resignedly beneath the skyThe melancholy waters lie.So blend the turrets and shadows thereThat all seem pendulous in air,While from a proud tower in the townDeath looks gigantically down.There open fanes and gaping gravesYawn level with the luminous waves;But not the riches there that lieIn each idol's diamond eye —Not the gaily-jewelled deadTempt the waters from their bed;For no ripples curl, alas!Along that wilderness of glass —No swellings tell that winds may beUpon some far-off happier sea —No heavings hint that winds have beenOn seas less hideously serene.But lo, a stir is in the air!The wave – there is a movement there!As if the towers had thrust aside,In slightly sinking, the dull tide —As if their tops had feebly givenA void within the filmy Heaven.The waves have now a redder glow —The hours are breathing faint and low —And when, amid no earthly moans,Down, down that town shall settle hence,Hell, rising from a thousand thrones,Shall do it reverence.TO F —
[F – is, presumably, Mrs. Frances Sargent Osgood]Beloved! amid the earnest woesThat crowd around my earthly path —(Drear path, alas! where growsNot even one lonely rose) —My soul at least a solace hathIn dreams of thee, and therein knowsAn Eden of bland repose.And thus thy memory is to meLike some enchanted far-off isleIn some tumultuous sea —Some ocean throbbing far and freeWith storms – but where meanwhileSerenest skies continuallyJust o'er that one bright island smile.THE SLEEPER
At midnight, in the month of June,I stand beneath the mystic moon.An opiate vapour, dewy, dim,Exhales from out her golden rim,And, softly dripping, drop by drop,Upon the quiet mountain top,Steals drowsily and musicallyInto the universal valley.The rosemary nods upon the grave;The lily lolls upon the wave;Wrapping the fog about its breast,The ruin moulders into rest;Looking like Lethe, see! the lakeA conscious slumber seems to take,And would not, for the world, awake.All Beauty sleeps! – and lo! where liesIrene, with her Destinies!O, lady bright! can it be right —This window open to the night?The wanton airs, from the tree-top,Laughingly through the lattice drop —The bodiless airs, a wizard rout,Flit through thy chamber in and out,And wave the curtain canopySo fitfully – so fearfully —Above the closed and fringèd lid"Neath which thy slumb'ring soul lies hid,That, o'er the floor and down the wall,Like ghosts the shadows rise and fall!Oh, lady dear, hast thou no fear?Why and what art thou dreaming here?Sure thou art come o'er far-off seas,A wonder to these garden trees!Strange is thy pallor! strange thy dress,Strange, above all, thy length of tress,And this all solemn silentness!The lady sleeps! Oh, may her sleep,Which is enduring, so be deep!Heaven have her in its sacred keep!This chamber changed for one more holy,This bed for one more melancholy,I pray to God that she may lieFor ever with unopened eye,While the pale sheeted ghosts go by!My love, she sleeps! Oh, may her sleepAs it is lasting, so be deep!Soft may the worms about her creep!Far in the forest, dim and old,For her may some tall vault unfold —Some vault that oft has flung its blackAnd wingèd panels fluttering back,Triumphant, o'er the crested palls,Of her grand family funerals —Some sepulchre, remote, alone,Against whose portal she hath thrown,In childhood, many an idle stone —Some tomb from out whose sounding doorShe ne'er shall force an echo more,Thrilling to think, poor child of sin!It was the dead who groaned within.