Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 The Library of Congress 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/bellsOOpoee 
 
THE BELLS 
 
 BY 
 
 EDGAR ALLAN POE. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 DARLEY, McCUTCHEON, FREDERICKS, PERKINS, 
 KING, RIORDAN AND NORTHAM. 
 
 
 
 WASH^ViG^,^ 
 
 PORTER & COATES, 
 PHILADELPHIA, 
 
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 Copyright, 
 
 i8Si , 
 
 By Porter & Coates 
 
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Engraved by Jas. W. Lauderhach. 
 
 Artist. 
 
 Illustrated Title R. Riordaii. 
 
 Head -piece Charles P. King. 
 
 Vignette _ Charles P. Kiinr. 
 
 "Hear the sledges with the bells" . . F. O. C Barley. 
 "What a world of merriment their 
 
 melody foretells!" S. G. McCutcheon. 
 
 "How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle" . . A. Fredericks. 
 
 "Hear the mellow weddincr-bells " . . F. O. C Darlev. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Artist. 
 
 "Golden bells!" Charles P. King. 
 
 "From the molten-golden notes" . F. O. C. Darley. 
 
 "Oh, from out the sounding cells " . R. Riordan. 
 
 "To the swinging and the ringing '' . A. Fredericks. 
 
 "Hear the loud alarum-bells" . . Granville Perkins. 
 
 "How they scream out their affright !" R. Riordan. 
 " In the clamorous appealing to the 
 
 mercy of the fire" . . . . F. O. C. Dai-ley. 
 "In a mad expostulation with the 
 
 deaf and frantic fire" . . . Granville Perkins. 
 
 "Oh, the bells, bells, bells!" . . . Graiiville Perkins. 
 
 "Yet the ear it fully knows" . . Granville Perkins. 
 
 "Hear the tolling of the bells" . . F. O. C. Darley. 
 
 "In the silence of the night" . . Miss C. A. Northam. 
 
 "And the people, — ah, the people" . Granville Perkins. 
 
 "And their king it is who tolls" . A. Fredericks. 
 
 Tail-piece Charles P. King. 
 

 Hear 
 
 the 
 sledges 
 with the bells,- 
 Silver bells, — 
 
What a world of merriment their melody foretells ! 
 
TTOW they tinkle, tinkle, imkle, 
 
 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 har- 
 mony foretells ! 
 Through the balmy air of night 
 
 How they ring 
 ,-_ out their 
 
 delight ! 
 
A- ;. r^ROM the molten-o;olden notes, 
 
 Iff ^ And all in tune, 
 
 What a liquid ditty floats 
 To the turtle-dove that listens while she gloats 
 On the moon ! 
 
HEAR the loud alarum-bells. — t""?**;." -i^' -'-' "v '-1 
 Brazen bells! . ^ M^T^iswj. _ . '-. 
 
 What a tale of terror, no\\ , their 
 turbulency tells ' 
 In the startled ear of night 
 
 ei)it"J 
 
 fe- tf^'"f -'^'V,. 
 
 I '. 
 
 
H 
 
 U\V thty scream out their affright : 
 Too much horrified to speak, 
 They can only shriek, shriek, 
 Out of tune. 
 
TN 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. 
 
 . ^f| 
 
|H, 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 ! 
 
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,— 
 tV^r^^ ^-^ In the clamor and the 
 -^^^^ ^^^^^^^ clangor of the 
 ' . bells! 
 
 ^kc 
 
H 
 
 EAR the tolling- of the bells,— 
 , Iron bells ! 
 What a world of solemn thought their monody 
 compels ! 
 

 
 
 
 '2>' ^ 
 
 ■■I 
 
 jd 
 
 I i\ tne silence or tne 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, — 
 
 wf^^^ They that dwell up 
 
 in the steeple, 
 
 ^ All alone. 
 
 And who, tolling, tolling, toll- 
 
 In that muffled monotone. 
 Feel a glory in so rolling 
 
 On the human heart a stone — -4^ 
 They are neither man nor 
 
 woman, — 
 They are neither brute 
 nor human, — 
 
 They are ghouls : f 
 
 ^..^t 
 
AND their king it is who 
 tolls; 
 And he rolls, rolls, rolls, 
 Rolls, 
 A paean 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. 
 
Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
 Neutralizing agent; Magnesium Oxide 
 Treatment Date: Sept. 2009 
 
 PreservationTechnologies 
 

 
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