Analysis of The Lost Bells
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper 1825 – 1911
Year after year the artist wrought
With earnest, loving care,
The music flooding all his soul
To pour upon the air.
For this no metal was too rare,
He counted not the cost;
Nor deemed the years in which he toiled
As labor vainly lost.
When morning flushed with crimson light
The golden gates of day,
He longed to fill the air with chimes
Sweet as a matin's lay.
And when the sun was sinking low
Within the distant West,
He gladly heard the bells he wrought
Herald the hour of rest.
The music of a thousand harps
Could never be so dear
As when those solemn chants and thrills
Fell on his list'ning ear.
He poured his soul into their chimes,
And felt his toil repaid;
He called them children of his soul,
His home a'near them made.
But evil days came on apace,
War spread his banner wide,
And from his village snatched away
The artist's love and pride.
At dewy morn and stilly eve
The chimes no more he heard;
With dull and restless agony
His spirit's depths was stirred.
A weary longing filled his soul,
It bound him like a spell;
He left his home to seek the chimes --
The chimes he loved so well.
Where lofty fanes in grandeur rose,
Upon his ear there fell
No music like the long lost chimes
Of his beloved bell.
And thus he wandered year by year.
Touched by the hand of time,
Seeking to hear with anxious heart
Each well remembered chime.
And to that worn and weary heart
There came a glad surcease:
He heard again the dear old chimes,
And smiled and uttered peace.
"The chimes! the chimes!" the old man cried,
"I hear their tones at last;"
A sudden rapture filled his heart,
And all his cares were past.
Yes, peace had come with death's sweet calm,
His journeying was o'er,
The weary, restless wanderer
Had reached the restful shore.
It may be that he met again,
Enfolded in the air,
The dear old chimes beside the gates
Where all is bright and fair;
That he who crossed and bowed his head
When Angelus was sung
In clearer light touched golden harps
By angel fingers strung.
Scheme | ABCB BXXX XDED XFAF GHXX EICI XJDJ XKXK CLEL XLEL HMNM NEEX JONO XPPX XBXB XQGQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (75%) |
Metre | 11010101 110101 01010111 110101 11110111 110101 11010111 110101 11011101 010111 11110111 11011 01011101 010101 11010111 1001011 01010101 110111 11110101 111111 11110111 011101 11110111 110111 11011101 111101 01110101 010101 1101011 011111 11010100 110111 01010111 111101 11111101 011111 11010011 011111 11010111 11011 01110111 110111 10111101 110101 01110101 11011 11010111 010101 01010111 111111 01010111 011101 11111111 1100110 01010100 110101 11111101 1001 01110101 111101 11110111 1111 01011101 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,985 |
Words | 376 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 16 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 97 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 23 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:54 min read
- 63 Views
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"The Lost Bells" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/13758/the-lost-bells>.
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