The life of Edgar Allan Poe .. . , asoriginally composed: — 2o6 LIFE OF EDGAR A. POE. The singular poem of Mr. Poes, called ^TheBells, which we published in our last number,has been very extensively copied. There is acurious piece of literary history connected withthis poem, which we may as well give now as atany other time. It illustrates the gradual develop-ment of an idea in the mind of a man of originalgenius. This poem came into our possessionabout a year since. It then consisted oieighteenlines! They were as follows : — THE BELLS.—A SOXG. The bells ! — hear the bells !The merrj wedding b
The life of Edgar Allan Poe .. . , asoriginally composed: — 2o6 LIFE OF EDGAR A. POE. The singular poem of Mr. Poes, called ^TheBells, which we published in our last number,has been very extensively copied. There is acurious piece of literary history connected withthis poem, which we may as well give now as atany other time. It illustrates the gradual develop-ment of an idea in the mind of a man of originalgenius. This poem came into our possessionabout a year since. It then consisted oieighteenlines! They were as follows : — THE BELLS.—A SOXG. The bells ! — hear the bells !The merrj wedding bells !The little silver bells !How fairj-like a melodj there swellsFrom the silver tinkling cellsOf the bells, bells, bells!Of the bells! The bells ! — ah, the bells ! The heavy iron bells ! Hear the tolling of the bells! Hear the knells!How horrible a monodj there floats From their throats — From their deep-toned throats \How I shudder at the notes From the melancholy throatsOf the bells, bells, bells! Of the bells!. I I , -IcS 2 ^^-^ •^ 111- -IS s -ti^ ^ S ^ m 4^ U ^ ^ ^ ^ J .. ^ ^ \^ ^-^ -§ -^ <, ^ ^ < -I ^^ THE BELLS. 207 About six months after this, we received thepoem enlarged and altered nearly to its presentsize and form; and about three months since, theauthor sent another alteration and enlargement,in which condition the poem was left at the timeof his death. The original MS. of The Bells, in its en-larged form, from which the draft sent to Sar-tains was made, is in our possession at thistime. The interlinings and revisions are pecu-liarly interesting as showing the authors extraor-dinary care in fine points of versification. In the twelfth line of the first stanza of theoriginal draft, the word bells was repeated^fz^^times, instead of four, as Poe printed it, and buttwice in the next line. In changing and obvious-ly improving the effect, he has drawn his penthrough the fifth repetition, and added another,underlinedi to the two of the ne
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookpublishernewyorkwjwiddleton
