Analysis of Bells

Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 (Chelsea) – 1838 (Cape Coast)



How sweet on the breeze of the evening swells
The vesper call of those soothing bells,
Borne softly and dying in echoes away,
Like a requiem sung to the parting day.
Wandered from roses the air is like balm,
The wave like the sleep of an infant is calm ;
No oars are now plying in flashes to wake
The blue repose of the tranquil lake ;
And so slight are the sighs of the slumbering gale,
Scarce have they power to waft my slack sail ;
Fair hour, when the blush of the evening light,.
Like a beauty is veiled by the shadow of night.
When the heart-heat is soft as the sun's farewell beams,
When the spirit is melting in tenderest dreams ;
A wanderer, dear England, from thee and from thine,
Yet the hearths I have left are my bosom's best shrine ;
And dear are those bells, for most precious to me,
Whatever can wake a remembrance of thee ;
They bring back the memory of long absent times,
Young hopes and young joys are revived in those chimes.
To me they are sweet as the meadows in June,
As the song which the nightingale pours to the moon.
Like the voice of a friend on my spirit they come,
Whose greeting is love, and whose tale is of home.
How blithely they're wont to ring in the new year,
The gayest of sounds amid Christmas time cheer.
How light was the welcome they gave the young May,
When sunshine and flowers decked her festival day.
How soft at the shade of the twilight that bell,
Rolled faintly away o'er my favourite dell ;
When his woodbine was fresh, and the tremulous shade
Of the aspen leaf over my path beneath played ;
When his day of toil over, the hind turned away
From the perfumed fields of the newly-mown hay;
When no sound was heard, save the woodlark's wild song,
And the peal of those bells borne in echoes along ;
They were dear to me then, but now they are brought
More home to my heart, for their music is fraught
With all that to memory is hallowed and dear,
With all those fond thoughts that but speak in a tear.
Voiceless and holy— that simple chime is,
As a spell on the heart at a moment like this ;
Yes, sweet are those bells, for most precious to me,
Whatever reminds me loved England of thee .


Scheme AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLMNNBBOOPPBBQQRRNSTUII
Poetic Form
Metre 1110110101 010111101 11001001001 10100110101 1011001111 01101111011 11111001011 010110101 011101101001 1111011111 11010110101 10101110111 10111110111 1010110011 010011011011 10111111111 01111111011 1011001011 111010011101 11011101011 1111110101 101101001101 101101111011 11011011111 11011110011 0111011011 11101011011 11010101001 1110110111 1100110111 11111001001 101011011011 111111001101 10011101011 1111110111 001111101001 10111111111 11111111011 111110011001 11111111001 1001011011 101101101011 11111111011 1001111011
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 2,133
Words 403
Sentences 10
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 44
Lines Amount 44
Letters per line (avg) 38
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 1,662
Words per stanza (avg) 414
Font size:
 

Submitted by Madeleine Quinn on May 13, 2016

Modified on April 05, 2023

2:02 min read
75

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Letitia Elizabeth Landon was an English poet. Born 14th August 1802 at 25 Hans Place, Chelsea, she lived through the most productive period of her life nearby, at No.22. A precocious child with a natural gift for poetry, she was driven by the financial needs of her family to become a professional writer and thus a target for malicious gossip (although her three children by William Jerdan were successfully hidden from the public). In 1838, she married George Maclean, governor of Cape Coast Castle on the Gold Coast, whence she travelled, only to die a few months later (15th October) of a fatal heart condition. Behind her post-Romantic style of sentimentality lie preoccupations with art, decay and loss that give her poetry its characteristic intensity and in this vein she attempted to reinterpret some of the great male texts from a woman’s perspective. Her originality rapidly led to her being one of the most read authors of her day and her influence, commencing with Tennyson in England and Poe in America, was long-lasting. However, Victorian attitudes led to her poetry being misrepresented and she became excluded from the canon of English literature, where she belongs. more…

All Letitia Elizabeth Landon poems | Letitia Elizabeth Landon Books

3 fans

Discuss this Letitia Elizabeth Landon poem analysis with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Bells" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/44756/bells>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    April 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    2
    days
    20
    hours
    30
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    The poet of the line: "I should be glad of another death." Is...
    A Sylvia Plath
    B Walt Whitman
    C Emily Dickinson
    D T.S. Eliot