Study Guide to E.A. Poe's "The Bells"

Grade Levels

10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade

Course, Subject

English Language Arts

Related Academic Standards

Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.

CC.1.2.8.D CC.1.2.8.D

Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author acknowledges and responds to conflicting evidence or viewpoints.

CC.1.2.8.E CC.1.2.8.E

Analyze the structure of the text through evaluation of the author’s use of specific sentences and paragraphs to develop and refine a concept.

CC.1.3.7.B CC.1.3.7.B

Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences, conclusions, and/or generalizations drawn from the text.

CC.1.3.7.G CC.1.3.7.G

Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium (e.g. lighting, sound, color, or camera focus and angles in a film).

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Description

Students should listen to a reading of 'The Bells' to hear the melody of the poem and understand Poe's purpose in his style of writing. After reviewing the vocabulary for the poem, listen to a recording of the poem. Listen for the sound of bells in rhythms such as 'TICK, TOCK,' and 'BONG-BONG-BONG'. Note that the reader's voice changes as the tones of the bells do. This is a model of effective oral reading.

CLASS DISCUSSION

STANZA 1 - SILVER BELLS

What kind of bells does Poe refer to in the first stanza?
With what are silver bells usually associated?
What do they sound like?
What feeling do you get from them?

STANZA 2 - WEDDING BELLS

What kind of bells does Poe refer to in this?
Where might the wedding bells be played from?

Church

With what are these bells associated?
- Love; molten-golden. (When something is golden, it is valuable, new, and beautiful.)
What does molten mean?
- Warm, and changeable to form. So these bells change tones to fit the beauty, newness, and warmth of love.
What do they sound like?
What feeling do you get from them?

STANZA 3 - FIRE BELLS

What do the bells in the third stanza do?
What do they warn of?
What words does Poe use to describe them?
What does Poe say how people react to the poem?
How does he say this?
What do they sound like?
What do we hear in the warning of a fire that Poe did not?
Sirens (this poem is a sign of Poe's lifetime.)

STANZA 4 - FUNERAL BELLS

What bells are tolling in the fourth stanza?
How do we know?
What did you notice about the reader's voice when he comes to this part of the poem?

Essential Question

What can be interpreted about the many references to bells in Poe's poem?

Duration

Forty-five minute class period

Assessment

Students will be able to actively participate in class discussion about the specific content of the poem.

Study Guide to E.A. Poe's "The Bells"