Figurative Language in The Bells

What a world of merriment their melody foretells!

• Alliteration and Personification

• Metaphor and Internal Rhyme

• Onomatopoeia and Simile

Answer explanation

Alliteration: What-World, Melody-Merriment (repeated first sounds)

Personification: Their melody foretells (melodies cannot tell things)

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.7.5

CCSS.RL.8.10

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.5

By using words that sound like the noises that the bells make, the poet is using _______________.

• Onomatopoeia

• similes
• assonance

Answer explanation

Jingle, Tinkle, Twinkle, Ringing, Shriek, Moan, Groan

All of these words (which are repeated) imitate sounds.

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5

CCSS.L.5.5

CCSS.L.6.5

CCSS.L.7.5

CCSS.L.8.5

What type of figurative language is represented in:   In the icy air of night!   While the stars that oversprinkle   All the heavens, seem to twinkle   With a crystalline delight; 

• imagery
• onomatopoeia
• metaphor
• simile

Answer explanation

You can FEEL icy air. You can SEE stars that are sprinkled in the heavens and how the twinkle.

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.5

CCSS.RL.8.10

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.9

What is the irony in Stanza 4?  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, rolls--how he dances

• The world is snowy and cold, but the world is warm with Christmas joy.

• The bells are heavy and sad, but the ghouls and their king are happy and dance

• Marriage is suppose to be happy, not full of alarming problems.

Answer explanation

The final bells are funeral bells, yet Poe demonstrates the haunting images of ghouls and the King of ghouls excited.

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.10

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

The lines, "Hear the loud alarum bells/ Brazen bells!/What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells! /In the startled ear of night/How they scream out their affright!" use what type of figurative language?

• Simile

• Metaphor

• Personification

• Onamotopeoia

Answer explanation

Bells cannot tell "tales of terror"--they cannot "scream" and ears cannot be "startled" by themselves.

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.10

CCSS.RL.7.5

CCSS.RL.8.10

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.5

What is the effect of the onomatopoeia in the following lines?

What a tale their terror tells Of Despair! How they clang, and clash, and roar!

• It intensifies the loveliness and delicate nature of life

• It reinforces the excitement at the end of life.

• It reflects the harshness and violence of life.

• It emphasizes the daily experiences of life.

Answer explanation

Terror, despair, and clash/clang all have upsetting tones.

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.10

CCSS.RL.8.10

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

What is the speaker’s tone at the beginning of the poem?

• Courageous

• Comical

• Careful

• Cheery

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.10

CCSS.RL.7.5

CCSS.RL.8.10

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.5

Which TWO quotations support your answer to the previous question?

• "time, time, time"

• "crystalline delight"

• "so musically wells"

• "world of merriment"

• "sort of Runic rhyme"

Answer explanation

The other words are either not specifically happy or not happy at all. Look at the words "delight" and "merriment"!

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.7.5

CCSS.RL.8.10

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.5

How does the change in tone contribute to the meaning of the poem?

• It accentuates the difficult transition from life to death.

• It reflects the beauty and magnificence of death.

• It suggests that people are obsessed with death.

• It condemns those who see death as eternal.

Answer explanation

The tone clearly shifts from innocent and happy, to peacefully happy, to more frantic, and then sad. This symbolizes stages of life.

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.5

CCSS.RL.8.10

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.9

How does the fast pace of the poem contribute to its meaning?

• The fast pace copies the velocity of music.

• The fast pace parallels the quickness of time like the beating of a heart soon ending.

• The fast pace imitates the swiftness of sound.

• The fast pace contradicts the speed of destruction.

Answer explanation

We demonstrated in class how the rhythm of the poem is similar to a heartbeat. Each bell represents a stage of life that passes by quickly.

Tags

CCSS.RL.7.10

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.10

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.5