Poe's "The Bells" Trivia Quiz

Answer: blackened

The sledge bells are silver:
"Hear the sledges with the bells-
Silver bells!"

The wedding bells are golden:
"Hear the mellow wedding bells,
Golden bells!"

The alarm bells are brass-colored:
"Hear the loud alarum bells-
Brazen bells!"

And there are also iron bells in the poem:
"Hear the tolling of the bells-
Iron bells!"

However, there are no blackened bells.

Answer: crystalline

Crystalline is an adjective meaning clear or bright. It could also be meant to recall the sound of a crystal bell, though these bells are previously described as silver.

The British rock band Pink Floyd alludes to "The Bells" in their song "Time" on the 1973 album "The Dark Side of the Moon":

"Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells."

Answer: Runic

"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."

The use of the term runic here implies having some mysterious or secret meaning. The term comes from the letters used to write various ancient Germanic languages.

Answer: false

The poem is not written in anapestic meter (which is two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed). Rather, the poem primarily uses a hurried trochaic meter, which involves a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one (think of a sound like "DA-dum"). In the lines that repeat "bells," it switches to iambic meter (one unstressed followed by one stressed syllable).

The poem does not have a clear repeating pattern of rhyme. However, the rhyme is planned in such a way that it takes the reader along with the sound of the bells. The poem also uses frequent repetition to help set the rhythm. The rhyme scheme for the first several lines is AAABCBBCDDAAAA...

Answer: epizeuxis

The poem uses a rhetorical device called "epizeuxis," which is the repetition of a word or phrase with no intervening words, in this case "bells, bells, bells." It also uses diacope, which is the repetition of a word or phrase with one or more intervening words, as below:

"Hear the mellow wedding bells,
Golden bells!"

Answer: balmy

"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!"

According to Dawn Sova in "Edgar Allan Poe", Poe likely wrote "The Bells" in May of 1848 and then submitted it repeatedly - three times - to Union Magazine, which was co-owned by his friend John Sartain, before it was finally accepted for publication. "The Bells," however, was not published until after Poe's death. It appeared in the November 1849 issue.

Answer: the turtle-dove

In addition to being published in Union Magazine, "The Bells" appeared after Poe's death in the New York Daily Tribune newspaper. The work was published on the front page of the October 17, 1849 issue, where it was billed as "Poe's Last Poem." "Annabel Lee" is actually the last complete poem composed by Edgar Allan Poe, however.

Answer: alliteration

Alliteration is the repetition of beginning consonant sounds. Poe uses this device frequently throughout the poem. Here, he uses it by repeating the "t" sound with "tale", "terror", "turbulency" and "tells."

Eric Woolfson put this poem to music on his 2003 album "Poe: More Tales of Mystery and Imagination."

Answer: onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is a term for the use of words that phonetically resemble the sounds they describe. Here "twangling", "clanging", and "jangling" are onomatopoeic words describing the sounds that the bell makes. Elsewhere, Poe uses "tinkling" and "jingling" to describe the sound of the bells.

In 1993, the Danish composer Poul Ruders used Poe's text in Dutch to write a piece for the high soprano, which was recorded by MC Lars on his 2012 EP "The Bells."

Answer: laughing

Personification is giving human characteristics to inanimate objects. Poe does not describe the bells as laughing, but he does describe them as sobbing, groaning, and moaning:

"To the sobbing of the bell
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."

He also writes:

"For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan."

Sergei Rachmaninoff composed a choral symphony based on a Russian adaptation of "The Bells" by Konstantin Balmont.