At first read, I thought that this poem was about bells, but I was mistaken. One could read it this way, but I have read it another. True, the poem is called "The Bells", but the use of the word bells symbolizes something. What does it symbolize? Well, through the whole poem, Poe uses the word bells in repetition many times. The use of the repetition stresses meaning. If it didn't, Poe wouldn't repeat the word bells so many times. "...To the swinging and the ringing of the bells, bells, bells-Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells..."(Poe871)

The use of this repetition represents an extremity. "The pendulous motion can represent the extremes of good and evil, death and immortality." (Symbolism Dictionary)

Poe uses time in this poem very well. There is a gradual change from good to evil and a changing of actual. To start out, the changing of time, I think, is one of the most obvious things that sticks out.

In the first stanza, everything in the writing s

In the first stanza, it is winter and everything is well. In the second stanza, it is summer and everything is as good as it can possibly be. Several months pass from the first stanza to the second and this man has never been better, but in the third stanza, this diminishment of good rapidly depletes and he is on the edge of turning evil or staying good. Then, by the final stanza, this man who was once pure is now pure evil. I say pure because the element, iron, is pure.

Now, in the final stanza of the poem the bells are iron. Bronze is a mixture and iron is a pure element. Why change from a mixture to a pure element? This is the final change. He was silver to begin with. He was pure and untouched. Next, he was gold and at the peak of mental health. This is, of course, when he married his now deceased wife. The next metal to come is Bronze. This is a mixture, something not pure. This is when his wife was killed in the fire. To say that this man was a mixture means that he was a mixture of emotions; These emotions were good and evil. This is understandable considering at the time he was watching his wife be engulfed in flames and pleading with the fire not to take her life. Finally, he has changed to iron. "Iron:1. a metallic chemical element, the most common of all metals. 4. Firm strength;power" (Webster 230). In the last stanza, he has his thoughts together, however mad they may be. He is very firm in his state of mind; He i!

It says that the fire is deaf, which means that it can not hear. The man's pleading went unheard, and the fire showed no mercy. Therefore, taking the life of the wife of the man.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Webster185 Gold, Symbolism Dictionary, Dictionary Poe, Allen Poe, Fordham York, Virginia Sissy, Poe's Life, Bells Basically, Shortly Poe's, Science Fiction, mental health, poe's life, bells bells, bells bells bells, poem bells, mixture pure, bronze mixture, stanza bells, word bells, third stanza, pure element, world merriment melody, mental health start, man's mental health, hear mellow wedding,
Approximate Word count = 1763
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)