The Church-Bell
As I was lying in my bedI heard the church-bell ring;Before one solemn word was saidA bird began to sing.
I heard a dog begin to barkAnd a bold crowing cock;The bell, between the cold and dark,Tolled. It was five o'clock.
The church-bell tolled, and the bird sang,A clear true voice he had;The cock crew, and the church-bell rang,I knew it had gone mad.
A hand reached down from the dark skies,It took the bell-rope thong,The bell cried "Look! Lift up your eyes!"The clapper shook to song.
The iron clapper laughed aloud,Like clashing wind and wave;The bell cried out "Be strong and proud!"Then, with a shout, "Be brave!"
The rumbling of the market-carts,The pounding of men's feetWere drowned in song; "Lift up your hearts!"The sound was loud and sweet.
Slow and slow the great bell swung,It hung in the steeple mute;And people tore its living tongueOut by the very root.
Words in this poem
- clapper n.
- A rabbit burrow. [F. clapier.]
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- aloud adv.
- With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
- rumbling
- a. & n. from Rumble, v. i.
- tore n.
- The dead grass that remains on mowing land in winter and spring. Mortimer. [Probably from the root of tear; cf. W. tór a break, cut, tóri to break, cut.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Church-Bell is in the public domain. This text is taken from Nets to Catch the Wind, Project Gutenberg ebook #6682; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Elinor Wylie, The Church-Bell, in Nets to Catch the Wind (1921), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6682, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/wylie-nets/the-church-bell.html, id L12763.
Form and metre
The Church-Bell is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 18% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB bedA · ringB · saidA · singB
- 2 ABAB barkA · cockB · darkA · o'clockB
- 3 ABAB sangA · hadB · rangA · madB
- 4 ABAB skiesA · thongB · eyesA · songB
- 5 ABAB aloudA · waveB · proudA · braveB
- 6 ABAB cartsA · feetB · heartsA · sweetB
- 7 ABAB swungA · muteB · tongueA · rootB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| As I was lying in my bed | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I heard the church-bell ring; | 6 | ······ |
| Before one solemn word was said | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A bird began to sing. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| I heard a dog begin to bark | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And a bold crowing cock; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The bell, between the cold and dark, | 8 | ········ |
| Tolled. It was five o'clock. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The church-bell tolled, and the bird sang, | 8 | ········ |
| A clear true voice he had; | 6 | ······ |
| The cock crew, and the church-bell rang, | 8 | ········ |
| I knew it had gone mad. | 6 | ······ |
| A hand reached down from the dark skies, | 8 | ········ |
| It took the bell-rope thong, | 6 | ······ |
| The bell cried "Look! Lift up your eyes!" | 8 | ········ |
| The clapper shook to song. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The iron clapper laughed aloud, | 7 | ·//˘·˘/ |
| Like clashing wind and wave; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The bell cried out "Be strong and proud!" | 8 | ········ |
| Then, with a shout, "Be brave!" | 6 | ······ |
| The rumbling of the market-carts, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The pounding of men's feet | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Were drowned in song; "Lift up your hearts!" | 8 | ········ |
| The sound was loud and sweet. | 6 | ······ |
| Slow and slow the great bell swung, | 7 | ······· |
| It hung in the steeple mute; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And people tore its living tongue | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Out by the very root. | 6 | ···/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.