Hear the loud alarum bells --
Brazen bells!
What [a]1 tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a desperate desire,
And a resolute endeavor,
Now -- now to sit or never,
By the side of the pale-faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of Despair!
How they clang, and clash, and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
[Yet the]2 ear it fully knows,
By the twanging,
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows:
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling,
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells,
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells --
Of the bells --
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells --
In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!

About the headline (FAQ)

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ omitted by Hall.
² Hall: "Yes, the"

Text Authorship:

• by Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849), no title, appears in The Bells, no. 3 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

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This text (or a part of it) is used in a work

• by Thomas Anderton (1836 - 1903), "The Sleighbells", published 187-? [ vocal trio of treble voices and piano ]
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• by Frank Ahrold (b. 1931), "The Bells", published 1967 [ SATB chorus ]
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• by Emma Lou Diemer (b. 1927), "The Bells", published 1961 [ satb chorus and piano four-hands ]
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• by John Emeléus , "The Bells", published 1962 [ unison chorus ]
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• by Arthur Foote (1853 - 1937), "The Bells", published 1929 [ satb chorus and piano ]
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• by George Fox (1854 - 1902), "The Bells", published 1876 [ satb chorus and orchestra ], cantata
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• by William Wallace Gilchrist (1846 - 1916), "The Bells", published 1913 [ SSAA chorus and piano ]
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• by John Habash , "The Bells", published 1963 [ SATB chorus ], note: words adapted by Edna Lewis
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• by Cuthbert Harris (1870 - 1932), "Silver Sleigh Bells", published 1922 [ SSA trio or SATB chorus ]
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• by H. Stanley Hawley (1867 - 1916), "The Bells", published 1894 [ reciter with piano ]
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• by Joseph (or Josef) Charles Holbrooke (1878 - 1958), "The Bells", op. 50a, published 1906 [ chorus and orchestra ], note: also set in a German translation by Alice Klengel
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• by Fedor Kebalin , "The Bells", published 1966, from Canticle of Seasons
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• by Hazel Gertrude Kinscella (1893 - 1960), "The Bells", published 1938 [ SSA chorus and piano ]
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• by Halfdan Kjerulf (1815 - 1868), "The Bells"
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• by Henry Lahee (1826 - 1912), "The Bells", op. 128 no. 1, published 1937 [ SSA chorus and piano ], note: arranged by Purcell J. Mansfield
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• by F. Lancelott , "The Bells", published 1957, cantata
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• by Franco Leoni (1864 - 1949), "The Bells", published 1908 [ vocal scene for baritone or contralto and orchestra ]
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• by Clarence Lucas (1866 - 1947), "The Bells", op. 56, published 1913 [ madrigal: satb chorus a cappella ]
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• by Nicola Aloysius Montani (1880 - 1948), "The Bells", published 1917 [ soprano, alto, SSA chorus, and piano or orchestra ], cantata
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• by Phil Ochs (1940 - 1976), "The Bells", published 1967 [ satb chorus and piano ], arranged by Herbert Haufrecht
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• by C. Alexander Peloquin , "The Bells", published 1964 [ mixed chorus, 2 pianos, 2 contrabasses, percussion ]
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• by Franz Petersilea (d. 1878), "The Bells"
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• by Alfred Plumpton , "The Bells", published 1867
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• by Sam Raphling (b. 1910), "The Bells", published 1958 [ 6-part mixed chorus a cappella ]
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• by Hugh Stevenson Roberton, Sir (1874 - 1952), "The Sledge Bells", published 1909 [ partsong: satb chorus a cappella ]
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• by Godfrey Sampson (flourished 1930), "The Bells", published 1946
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• by Arsene Siegel (b. 1897), "The Iron Bells", published 1945 [ medium voice and piano ]
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• by David E. Stone (b. 1922), "Winter (The Bells)", published 1980 [ SSA chorus ], from Five Songs for Female Voices and Piano
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• by Harold Hinchcliffe Sykes , "The Bells" [ 2-part chorus of treble voices in canon ]
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• by George Wald , "The Bells", published 1942 [ satb chorus a cappella ]
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• by Michael White (b. 1931), "The Silver Bells", published 1961 [ mixed chorus a cappella ]
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• by Philip George Wilkinson (b. 1929), "The Bells", published 1954 [ chorus ], partsong
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• by Harry Robert Wilson (1901 - 1968), "The Bells", published 1968
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• by Juliana Hall (b. 1958), "The bells", 2015 [ soprano and piano ]
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Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Konstantin Dmitrevich Bal'mont (1867 - 1942) , no title, appears in Колокольчики и колокола (Kolokol'chiki i kolokola), no. 3 [an adaptation] ; composed by Sergei Vasil'yevich Rachmaninov.
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Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• FRE French (Français) (Stéphane Mallarmé) , no title, appears in Les cloches, no. 3

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2007-12-14
Line count: 34
Word count: 188