I feel kind of out of the poetry loop this past few months. I’ve been a first-round poetry judge for the CYBILS several times, and that means Oct-Dec=reading all the great children’s/ya poetry that I missed throughout the year. This year, I’m a second-round judge, which I’m also looking forward to. But I’ve missed the piles of poetry!
I’m sharing a poem today from the first poetry book I remember owning. It was given to me by Mr. Rom, by 9th-grade English teacher. He gave the 5 kids with the highest GPAs each a book at the end of each quin. Here’s what I got:
The year is ending, and I love both endings and beginnings (and the sound of church bells), so this seems appropriate:
Ring Out, Wild Bells
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him dieRing out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Read the rest here!
I love the abandon, and the beauty, and the harshness of this poem. “Ring out, ring out, my mournful rhymes,/But ring the fuller minstrel in.” Yes!
Kate Coombs (AKA Book Aunt) has the Poetry Friday Roundup today! Check it out!
Thanks for sharing, Laura! (And good luck with all the judging.) How fun to see your treasured book. And the poem is perfect for today and this month. I can hear my church’s carillon from my house when I’m outside – what a gift in the midst of any day.
I wish we lived close to a church with bells! Glad you like the poem:>)
Thanks for sharing, Laura! (And good luck with all the judging.) How fun to see your treasured book. And the poem is perfect for today and this month. I can hear my church’s carillon from my house when I’m outside – what a gift in the midst of any day.
I wish we lived close to a church with bells! Glad you like the poem:>)
Ooooh, an achiever! Great work – and such a lovely present from your teacher.
My nine year old daughter has just recently memorized Edgar Allan Poe’s The Bells – have you heard of it? I thought that it would perfectly complement the one that you have here:
Hear the sledges with the bells –
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells –
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.
She loved learning about ‘tintinnabulation’ 😉
Myra–thanks for sharing this! Beautiful! I have read it before, I think, but not for many years. Must get out my huge Edgar Allan Poe collection and make my way through his poems. Our older daughter is Annabelle, not strictly after EAP’s poem, but that’s the first place I ever remember hearing the name.
I especially love the lines
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Gor. Geous!
Ooooh, an achiever! Great work – and such a lovely present from your teacher.
My nine year old daughter has just recently memorized Edgar Allan Poe’s The Bells – have you heard of it? I thought that it would perfectly complement the one that you have here:
Hear the sledges with the bells –
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells –
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.
She loved learning about ‘tintinnabulation’ 😉
Myra–thanks for sharing this! Beautiful! I have read it before, I think, but not for many years. Must get out my huge Edgar Allan Poe collection and make my way through his poems. Our older daughter is Annabelle, not strictly after EAP’s poem, but that’s the first place I ever remember hearing the name.
I especially love the lines
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Gor. Geous!
First, thank you for your 15 words or less Thursday poetry and taking the time to comment. You’re the first blog I look for each Thursday to see what you have to see! And this poem by Tennyson, over 150 years old, is so timely today, isn’t it? Perhaps we should send it to some congress men and women? Personally, it’s also a gift to contemplate renewal, and ridding oneself of the burdens of the past. Thank you Laura!
Thanks, Linda! I’m so glad you’re enjoying 15WOL!
Yes, as I read about causes and such, I thought the same thing.
“Personally, it?s also a gift to contemplate renewal, and ridding oneself of the burdens of the past.” Beautifully put. How can we renew and invite new things into our life, our world, without clearing out old ones to make room? And even when good things end…well, the sorrow of that is what makes the current good things all the sweeter. Endings are a topic I think about a lot. In fact, the poem I have coming in Your Daily Poem in April is exactly about that…
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
First, thank you for your 15 words or less Thursday poetry and taking the time to comment. You’re the first blog I look for each Thursday to see what you have to see! And this poem by Tennyson, over 150 years old, is so timely today, isn’t it? Perhaps we should send it to some congress men and women? Personally, it’s also a gift to contemplate renewal, and ridding oneself of the burdens of the past. Thank you Laura!
Thanks, Linda! I’m so glad you’re enjoying 15WOL!
Yes, as I read about causes and such, I thought the same thing.
“Personally, it?s also a gift to contemplate renewal, and ridding oneself of the burdens of the past.” Beautifully put. How can we renew and invite new things into our life, our world, without clearing out old ones to make room? And even when good things end…well, the sorrow of that is what makes the current good things all the sweeter. Endings are a topic I think about a lot. In fact, the poem I have coming in Your Daily Poem in April is exactly about that…
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Looking forward to second-round judging with you!
I like the contrast of Tennyson’s wild bells and the tintinnabulation of Poe’s sweeter bells!
Me, too, Mary Lee! I agree. I love both these poems. Wouldn’t it be fun to have a carol sing at this time of year where we alternated holiday songs with end-of-year-appropriate and beautiful poems?
Looking forward to second-round judging with you!
I like the contrast of Tennyson’s wild bells and the tintinnabulation of Poe’s sweeter bells!
Me, too, Mary Lee! I agree. I love both these poems. Wouldn’t it be fun to have a carol sing at this time of year where we alternated holiday songs with end-of-year-appropriate and beautiful poems?
Hi, Laura,
This my first time on your site–but I’m a huge poetry fan, so I hope to become a ‘regular.’ Loved Tennyson’s poem… especially the stanzas you posted. But re: the rest, isn’t it amazing how unchanged the world is from Tennyson’s time to ours? So, yes, ‘ring out wild bells… ring out the old, ring in the new.’ I heartily agree!
Hi Julie–Welcome! And, yes, the poem still applies in contemporary times, right? Not sure if that’s frightening or comforting.
Hi, Laura,
This my first time on your site–but I’m a huge poetry fan, so I hope to become a ‘regular.’ Loved Tennyson’s poem… especially the stanzas you posted. But re: the rest, isn’t it amazing how unchanged the world is from Tennyson’s time to ours? So, yes, ‘ring out wild bells… ring out the old, ring in the new.’ I heartily agree!
Hi Julie–Welcome! And, yes, the poem still applies in contemporary times, right? Not sure if that’s frightening or comforting.