Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A TINKLE OF BELLS, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: The light of the moon on the white Last Line: Sheer into the judgment day! Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F. Subject(s): Bells; Judgment Day; Moon; Snow; End Of The World; Doomsday; Fall Of Man | ||||||||
THE light of the moon on the white of the snow, And the answering twinkles along the street, And our sleigh flashing by, in the glamour and glow Of the glorious nights of the long ago, When the laugh of her lips rang clear and sweet As the tinkle our horses shook out of the bells And flung and tossed back On our glittering track In a shower of tremulous, murmuring swells Of the echoing, airy, melodious bells! -- O the mirth of the bells! And the worth of the bells! Come tinkle again, in this dearth of the bells, The laughter and love that I lack, yearning back For the far-away sound of the bells! Ah! the bells, they were glad in the long ago! And the tinkles they had, they have thrilled me so I have said: "It is they and her songs and face Make summer for me of the wintriest place!" And now -- but sobbings and sad farewells, As I peer in the night through the sleeted pane, Hearing a clangor and wrangle of bells, And never a tinkle again! The snow is a-swoon, and the moon dead-white, And the frost is wild in the air tonight! Yet still will I linger and listen and pray Till the sound of her voice shall come this way, With a tinkle of bells, And the lisp-like tread Of the hooves of the sleigh, And the murmurs and swells Of the vows she said. And oh, I shall listen as madmen may, Till the tinkling bells ring down this way! -- Till again the grasp of my hand entwines The tensioned loops of the quivering lines, And again we ride in the wake of the pride And the strength of the coursers, side by side, With our faces smitten again by the spray Of the froth of our steeds as we gallop away In affright of the bells, And the might of the bells, And the infinite glee and delight of the bells, As they tinkle and tinkle and tinkle, till they Are heard through the dawn where the mists are drawn, And we canter and gallop and dash away Sheer into The Judgment Day! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON ETHNIC DEFINITIONS by ELEANOR WILNER THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL by WILLIAM BLAKE THE END OF THE WORLD by GORDON BOTTOMLEY 1X1 (ONE TIMES ONE): 20 by EDWARD ESTLIN CUMMINGS ONCE BY THE PACIFIC by ROBERT FROST A BOY'S MOTHER by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY |
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