Yet the 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 clanging of the bells!

IV.

Hear the tolling of the bells —
Iron bells!

What a world of solemn thought their monody compels !
In the silence of the night,

How we shiver with affright

At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats

From the rust within their throats

Is a groan.

And the people — ah, the people –

They that dwell up in the steeple,
All alone,

And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so rolling

On the human heart a stone
They are neither man nor woman
They are neither brute nor human

They are Ghouls :

:

And their king it is who tolls:
And he rolls, rolls, rolls,

A

Rolls

pæan from the bells!
And his merry bosom swells

With the pean of the bells!
And he dances, and he yells;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the pæan of the bells:
Of the bells:

Keeping time, time, time
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the throbbing of the bells
Of the bells, bells, bells

To the sobbing of the bells:
Keeping time, time, time,

As he knells, knells, knells,
In a happy Runic rhyme,
To the rolling of the bells
Of the bells, bells, bells:
To the tolling of the bells
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells.

To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.

"Over the Mountains

Of the Moon,

Down the Valley of the Shadow,

Ride, boldly ride,"

The shade replied,

"If you seek for Eldorado."

NOTES.