“The Bells” Analysis Worksheet

Name:______

Use the Poetic Devices “cheat sheet” on the back to help answer the following:

1) What does the repetition of the phrase “Bells, bells, bells” throughout the poem sound like? What type of musical device is this? / sounds like =
musical device =
2) What type of rhyme is in line 31? Which words rhyme?: “To the swinging and the ringing” / rhyme type =
words =
3) Line 14 contains what type of rhyme?:
“From the jingling and tinkling of the bells.”
4) Throughout the poem, the bells are described as making the following sounds: “shriek, shriek” (42), “clang and clash and roar” (54), “jangling” (63). These sounds are examples of what type poetic device?
5) What poetic devices are used in lines 81-84?: “All alone, / And who, tolling, tolling, tolling, / In that muffled monotone, / Feel a glory is so rolling”
Indicate which letters are repeated after each musical device. / a)
b)
c)
6) In Line 38 what letter is repeated?: “What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!” / repeated sound =
7) What four types of bells are described in the poem, and what is the tone of each bell? / a)
b)
c)
d)
8) Symbolically, what might the different types of bells represent? / a)
b)
c)
d)

Poetic Devices You May Find Useful in Analysis of “Musical” quality of a poem:

  • Alliteration is repeated consonant sounds occurring at the beginning of words or within words. Alliteration is used to create melody, establish mood, call attention to important words, and point out similarities and contrasts. Example: Wide-eyed and wondering, we waited for others to waken.
  • Assonance happens when the vowel sound within a word matches the same sound in a nearby word, but the surrounding consonant sounds are different. "Tune" and "June" are rhymes; "tune" and "food" are assonant. Example: "I sipped the rim with palatable lip." The "i" sound is repeated in sipped, rim and lip.
  • Consonance is the repetition, at close intervals, of the final consonants of accented syllables or important words, especially at the ends of words, as in blank and think or strong.Example: In “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost, the speaker is a man in a horse-drawn sleigh. In the poem, Frost uses consonance to evoke the sound of the hiss of sleigh runners on the snow. Notice the consonance in the first line of the poem:“Whose woods these are I think I know”
  • Onomatopoeia is the use of words that mimic sounds. They appeal to our sense of hearing, and they help bring a description to life. Sometimes onomatopoeia is produced by a string of syllables the author has made up to represent the way a sound really sounds. Example: OOOMPHH! However, there are many onomatopoeic words that are part of our language.Example: "The fire crackled and the popcorn popped."
  • Rhyme:Internal (within the middle of a line); End (at the end of a line); Approximate (not QUITE a rhyme…” LAP, SHAPE”)
  • Repetition or Refrain