Автор: Ремезова Мария Александровна
учитель английского языка
МАОУ «СОШ № 84 Г.ЧЕЛЯБИНСКА»
Свидетельство о публикации в электронном СМИ: СТ № 13230
Методическая разработка Интегрированный урок «A. E. Poe “The Bells” and Romanticism»
Интегрированный урок «A. E. Poe “The Bells” and Romanticism»
Цель урока: проанализировать стихотворение Э. А. По The Bells, выявить его художественные особенности, характерные для романтизма, понять, как через звучание слов автор передаёт эмоции и состояния.
Задачи:
Речевые (коммуникативные) Сформировать умение выражать личное отношение к тексту: I find the sound of the silver bells cheerful because…; The imagery of fire makes me feel…
Языковые (лексико‑грамматические) Активно использовать ключевую лексику из текста и комментариев: tintinnabulation, trochaic meter, onomatopoeia, monody, crystalline delight, affright, sobbing, ghouls.
Социокультурные Обсудить, как звуковые приёмы (ритм, рифма, звукопись) работают в разных языках (краткий эксперимент: попробовать подобрать русские аналоги для tinkle, shriek, sobbing).
Учебно‑познавательные (метапредметные) Учить работать с аудиовизуальными материалами: сравнивать оригинальное чтение стихотворения с музыкальной интерпретацией (например, версия группы Gampool).
Рефлексивные Оценить собственное понимание: Now I can explain how sound devices create mood in poetry (шкала от 1 до 5).
Заполнить рефлексивный лист:
One new word I learned today…
One question I still have about the poem…
A sound I would add to this poem if I were the author….
Критерии успешности
Учащиеся используют 5+ терминов из темы (alliteration, onomatopoeia, trochee, stanza, mood) в речи.
В групповых обсуждениях каждый ученик произносит не менее 2 развёрнутых фраз (3+ слов).
70% учащихся могут назвать 2 примера звуковых приёмов из текста и объяснить их функцию.
В монологических высказываниях присутствуют логические связки (first, then, however, therefore).
I. Введение (5 мин)
Приветствие учащихся (30 сек).
Вступление о жизни и творчестве Э. А. По (2 мин)
Poe is one of the first American masters of horror, and almost all his work deals with fear, danger, monsters, terror, depression, and death – sometimes all at the same time. Another Poe calling card is the way he plays with language. He loves to try out the craziest words he can find. He’s a wizard with other poetic sound effects too, like repetition, alliteration, and onomatopoeia. [ɒnəmætəˈpiːə]
романтизм и особенности стиля (страх, опасность, тьма, игра со словом). Spooky Images, Playful Language, Unhappy Endings
Введение темы (2 мин 30 сек):
прослушивание аудиофрагмента со звучанием колоколов;
вопрос ученикам: «На какую мысль наводят услышанные звуки?»;
анонс работы со стихотворением The Bells (одно из последних произведений По, опубликовано в ноябре 1849 г., после его смерти).
«The Bells» was one of the last poems the famously spooky Edgar Allan Poe ever wrote. It was published in Sartain’s Union Magazine in November of 1849, just after Poe’s mysterious death in October of that year. Poe was paid $15 for his work. «The Bells» isn’t the most famous poem he ever wrote (that prize probably has to go to «The Raven»).
II. Работа над стихотворением (20 мин)
Определение ритмической схемы и рифмы (5 мин):
объяснение хореического метра (DA-dum): пары слогов, где первый ударный;
разбор примеров из текста (напр., «Hear the | sledges | with the | bells–»);
обсуждение нерегулярности ритма и её роли в передаче настроения.
Trochaic Meter
For the most part, Poe uses a kind of meter in this poem that we call “trochaic.” That means that the poem is made up of pairs of syllables, with the first syllable in each pair being emphasized (stressed) and the second one not. A trochee makes a sound like DA-dum.
Hear the | sledges | with the | bells—
Silver | bells!
You probably noticed right away that not all of these syllable groups make a perfect trochee. For example, the word “bells” hangs out by itself at the end of each line, with no unstressed syllable to follow it. This poem is filled with all kinds of irregular moments and chaotic little changes in the meter. Still, you should be able to hear the basic trochaic rhythm: DA-dum, DA-dum, DA-dum.
Анализ звучания и мелодичности (5 мин):
роль звуковых приёмов: повтор, аллитерация, звукоподражание;
сравнение поэзии с музыкой (стихотворение ближе к песне, чем к рассказу).
It might, however, be the poem where he takes his musical, almost hypnotic style to its farthest extreme.
Poetry is partly about perfect phrases and inspiring feelings. At the bottom, though, it’s all about sound. In a way, poetry is just as close to music as it is to other kinds of literature. «The Bells,» in particular, is a lot closer to a song than, say, a story. Just like a song, you need to hear «The Bells» out loud.
нерегулярная рифма (пример из 1‑й стансы: A‑A‑A‑B‑C‑B‑B‑C‑D‑D‑A‑A‑A‑A).
Irregular Rhyme One of the things you might have noticed about this poem is that there’s a ton of rhyming going on. The pattern of the rhymes doesn’t stay consistent, but once you’ve figured out the basic strategy in one section, it’s easy to do it for the rest. Let’s look at the rhyming in Stanza 1 as an example. We’ll put the rhyming words in bold, and give each rhyming sound a letter, so you can see the patterns:
Hear the sledges with the bells— (A)
Silver bells! (A)
What a world of merriment their melody foretells! (A)
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, (B)
In the icy air of night! (C)
While the stars that oversprinkle (B)
All the heavens, seem to twinkle (B)
With a crystalline delight; (C)
Keeping time, time, time, (D)
In a sort of Runic rhyme, (D)
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells (A)
From the bells, bells, bells, bells, (A)
Bells, bells, bells— (A)
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells. (A)
It’s not a regular, repeating pattern, but it’s very carefully planned out, like all aspects of Poe’s poetry. He brings these same rhyming sounds back all through the poem, in a really cool, constantly shifting structure.
Разбор структуры стихотворения (5 мин):
четыре части (стансы), каждая посвящена колоколам из разного металла (серебро, золото, латунь, железо);
изменение настроения: от радости к мраку;
особенности оформления на странице (разрывы строк, визуальные образы);
Sections and Spacing
Maybe you noticed, when you first looked at this poem, that it’s laid out on the page in an unusual way. Poe spaced out the lines in a careful order, although it’s hard to see a pattern. (you can start to see bell-shapes in each section.) The spacing is drawing your attention to particular lines. For example, the short lines like “Golden bells!” (line 16) stand out on the page.
We also want to draw your attention to the four sections STANZAS, because they are divided up in interesting ways. We’ve pointed out that each one is oriented around a particular bell made of a particular metal (silver, gold, brass, iron), and that the mood gets darker as the metals become less valuable. It’s also interesting to note that the sections get longer as the poem goes on and picks up more speed.
III. Анализ содержания и тем (10 мин)
Предварительное задание (2 мин):
сколько видов колоколов упомянуто?
есть ли сюжет?
какие темы прослеживаются?
-Read the poem and decide how many kinds of bell you face.
—First, we hear silver bells on a sleigh, and the speaker tells us about the happy, tinkling sound they make. Next we hear the golden bells of a wedding, and he describes their mellow, joyful noise. Then things take a turn, as we hear the sound of brass alarm bells warning us about a fire. Finally, we hear the heavy, miserable sounds of iron bells. The sound of those bells makes the people who hear them really sad. It’s classic Poe – things really come to life as soon as the terrifying noises and the weird monsters show up.
-Is there a plot in this poem?
—There’s no plot in this poem, exactly, but there is something like an emotional arc, as we move from light, bubbly happiness to sadness, fear, and misery.
-How many themes do you see?
—Elicit 4 The Bells Themes: Fear, Death Happiness, Art and Culture, Man and the Natural World.
New lexes challenge.
Обсуждение ключевых тем (8 мин):
Страх (цитаты: «How they scream out their affright!» (l. 40), «What a tale their terror tells» (l. 52));
Смерть (намёки через «monody» (l. 72), «sobbing of the bells» (l. 104));
Счастье (образы серебряных и золотых колоколов: «crystalline delight» (l. 8), «world of happiness» (l. 17));
Искусство и культура (связь поэзии с музыкой: «Runic rhyme» (l. 10), «liquid ditty» (l. 22));
Человек и природа (ночные образы, огонь как стихия: «deaf and frantic fire» (l. 45)).
Прослушивание музыкальной интерпретации (5 мин):
песня The Bells группы Gampool;
While listening task. Find out as many themes quotes as you can
обсуждение впечатлений (настроение, образы, ассоциации);
The repetition of “bells” acts as a refrain throughout the four parts of the poem. Though the poem changes in structure, each part is longer than the previous part, and each part ends with the word “bells” repeated. These lines act like a musical chorus, enhancing the lyrical elements of the poem, despite the shifts in mood.
In part III, Poe continues to use repetition. Repeated words in parts I and II include “tinkle” and “delight,” but here Poe repeats the word “shriek.” A “shriek” is a short, high-pitched, violent yell. This description suggests that the “brazen bells” have a panicked, uneasy sound, which is a sharp departure in tone from the previous parts of the poem.
Checking while listening task:
The Bells Theme of Fear
This theme doesn’t show up at all until the third section of «The Bells.» From that point on, though, it really takes over. Poe explores the sounds and the feelings of fear. He uses all kinds of words to explore the different ways that people can be scared. He spends a lot of time dealing with these kinds of dark emotions, which makes sense because he’s definitely one of the grandfathers of the horror genre.
The Bells Fear Quotes
Quote 1 How they scream out their affright! (line 40)
This is a great image, and a good example of Poe’s awesomeness (yeah, we’re pretty big fans). Instead of just clanging loudly, the brass alarm bells scream out their fear («affright»). This use of personification gives a feeling of intensity and danger to this moment. It’s as if the fire was so hot and scary that it even brought the bells to life. It’s a big change from the happy sleigh rides and mellow weddings we’ve been hearing about in the first few sections. All of a sudden the monster of fear is on the loose.
Quote 2 What a tale their terror tells (line 52)
First of all, check out the excellent alliteration in this line. There’s a tight, nervous sound in all those repeating «t»s. We think it helps to ratchet up the tension, and make us feel the fear that’s spreading through the poem. This is Poe’s home base, for sure. He made his reputation on tales of terror, and on descriptions of moments just like this one, when fear hangs in the air.
Quote 3 What a horror they outpour (line 55)
Notice the way that the speaker cycles through different words for the fear that the bells feel (and the fear their sound causes). He calls it «affright,» «terror,» and now «horror.» In this case, he’s talking about a kind of liquid horror pouring out of the bells. It helps to remember that fire was a really scary and common thing in the nineteenth century, when this poem was written. If you heard a fire alarm bell in the night, you better believe you’d be scared.
Quote 4 How we shiver with affright (line 74)
Sometimes a little word makes all the difference. In this case, it’s the word «we.» This is the only time the speaker uses this word in the whole poem. It’s the only moment where he includes us, his readers, in the story he’s telling. The effect is subtle, but chilling. All of a sudden we can imagine ourselves lying in bed, shivering with fear. Maybe it makes you think of those moments when you sat up and listened for things going bump in the night.
Quote 5 Feel a glory in so rolling
On the human heart a stone— (line 84-85)
We really like this image as a way of describing the effects of fear. We can feel the weight of that stone rolling over our hearts, creating a crushing heaviness in our chests. The creepiest thing about this is that the ghouls who are spreading this fear seem to enjoy it. What’s scary and awful for us is just a good time for the ghouls. It’s a classic Poe moment. The sickness of fear mixes with the thrill of horror – after all, there must be a reason we keep reading poems and stories about scary things.
The Bells Theme of Death
Like the other dark elements of «The Bells,» death doesn’t show up until late in the poem. Even then, it’s just lurking in the shadows. In so many Poe poems and short stories, death is front and center, maybe the most important theme of them all. Here it’s just a hint, never directly mentioned. Still, we think it’s really important. The whole emotional arc of the poem moves relentlessly from happiness, harmony, and possibility to sadness, chaos, and death. Yeah, we get a little dramatic when it comes to Poe, but that’s part of the fun, right?
The Bells Death Quotes
Quote 1 How the danger ebbs and flows; (line 60)
Fire was a big threat in Poe’s day, and the chance that you would die in a fire, or lose your whole house, was much greater than it is today. Even today, fire is a scary and unpredictable thing. In this moment in the poem, the power and danger of fire is stalking through the town, and we know that death is marching along with it. At this point death is lurking just behind the fire. It’s an invisible threat in the poem, but we can feel its presence.
Quote 2 What a world of solemn thought their monody compels! (line 72)
The word «monody» has heavy overtones of death. It can mean a poem in which the speaker laments someone’s death, or a mournful song. In this case, the song of the bells is forcing the people listening to it to think «solemn thoughts.» In our experience, that’s just how thoughts of death creep into the mind. The speaker weaves the thread of death into the poem with the lightest possible touch. He picks just the right words to hint that death is slipping out of the bells like a ghost.
Quote 3 At the melancholy meaning of their tone! (line 75)
Behind the tone of the bells, the wordless sound they make, there’s some kind of «melancholy meaning.» We can be pretty sure that these bells are ringing for some sad occasion. Given the little hints the speaker drops, we think it’s pretty safe to assume that the iron bells are ringing for a funeral. Maybe the occasion isn’t as important as the pure feeling of the sound, the heavy misery that the bells broadcast. It’s a totally different feeling from the frantic fear of the fire alarm bells in section 3.
Quote 4 They are Ghouls:— (line 88)
Ghouls are legendary creatures that feast on the delicious corpses of the dead. Having ghouls show up in this poem is another way to bring in the hint of death. These nasty little critters thrive on death. It fills them with joy. Their only job in this poem seems to be to help their master spread misery and the fear of death all over the town.
Quote 5 To the sobbing of the bells (line 104)
This is one of many moments in the poem where the bells seem to come to life. In this case they are sobbing, as if they were crying over someone’s death. The speaker never tells us that the iron bells of the fourth section are funeral bells, but there’s a heavy feeling of death over the end of the poem. Imagine an occasion so sad that even metal bells would cry. That’s exactly what we’re dealing with here.
The Bells Theme of Happiness
Even if death and fear have their place in «The Bells,» there’s also a lot to smile about. After all, for the first 35 lines, things are going really well – which is really weird for a Poe poem. The whole world seems to be singing with joy and harmony. Poe is almost never cheerful, so we think it’s important to point it out. Also, at the end, the ghouls feel some happiness, too, although in this case it’s a much darker joy that they get from causing despair.
The Bells Happiness Quotes
Quote 1 With a crystalline delight; (line 8)
We think the phrase «crystalline delight» sounds like pure, concentrated happiness. It just naturally makes us want to smile. The sounds are crisp and pleasant, and the image it calls up in our minds is bright and clean. This is the essence of the mood at the opening of this poem: clear, cheerful, and totally unspoiled by fear or sadness or death. At this point in the poem you might be wondering, «Did Edgar Allan Poe really write this poem?»
Quote 2 What a world of happiness their harmony foretells! (line 17)
At this moment, the bells are forecasting a kind of endless happiness, spreading all over the world. That makes sense, since they are ringing for a marriage. That’s normally a moment of excitement and possibility. Ideally, it’s also a moment of «harmony,» where the love of two people chimes together like bells ringing in tune.
Quote 3 How they ring out their delight! (line 19)
This is another moment of pure, unspoiled joy. The bells come alive with happiness. They are filled with «delight,» which we usually think of as a human feeling. The point is that the whole poem and the whole world it describes are just drenched in happiness at this point. Poe is setting us up for a pretty big fall, but we don’t know that yet. We’re only seeing one side of the coin – the joy that can’t last forever, but that feels like it’s going to.
Quote 4 Feel a glory in so rolling
On the human heart a stone— (line 84-85)
Here’s where the «happiness» in this poem takes a turn for the creepy. Now we’re talking about the joy and the «glory» that the ghouls feel when they spread misery. Think of these guys as being a little bit like the Grinch. For them happiness is misery, and misery is absolute joy. They turn everything upside down. Just like the Grinch, they perch up above the town and chortle when they see signs of sadness.
Quote 5 And his merry bosom swells (line 93)
The king of the ghouls is the meanest and nastiest creep of them all. When he rings out death and suffering over the town, his heart fills with delight. This is the dark mirror image of the more «normal» joy that we saw earlier in the poem. In fact, that’s kind of how the whole poem works, like a light and a dark reflection of the same story.
The Bells Theme of Art and Culture
«The Bells» is full of music. The bells ring out all kinds of tunes, and Poe uses musical language to describe them. In a way, the poem itself is almost a piece of music, since it plays with sound, repetition, and rhythm so much. It’s no surprise that it’s been set to music and even turned into a famous symphony (see our «Best of the Web» section to listen to some examples). Poe is using this poem, in part, to explore the connection between poetry and other kinds of art.
The Bells Art and Culture Quotes
Quote 1 What a world of merriment their melody foretells! (line 3)
The fact that the sound of the bells is described as a «melody» seems like an important part of the opening of this poem. We’re not talking about some sort of flat «ding, ding, ding.» The song of the bells is full of life and cheerfulness. Of course bells on a sleigh can’t really play a song with an actual melody. The point here is more to pay attention to the ways that notes and sounds and rhythms can affect us. That’s exactly what Poe is exploring with the words and the rhythms of «The Bells.»
Quote 2 In a sort of Runic rhyme (line 10)
The speaker doesn’t just compare the sound of the bells to music. He also mixes in comparisons to poetry and literature. The phrase «Runic rhyme» is a little bit mysterious. We use to the word «rhyme» to describe little poems (like nursery rhymes). So a Runic rhyme could be some ancient, strange poetry. Plus, those two words just kind of roll off the tongue, don’t they? That play with sound is a big part of this line’s impact.
Quote 3 What a liquid ditty floats (line 22)
Can’t you just see this song floating through the air? You know when a person sings in a cartoon and you can sometimes see the notes flowing out into the world? That’s exactly how we picture this song, like a delicate cloud wisping out of the bells.
Quote 4 What a world of solemn thought their monody compels! (line 72)
Here the speaker is offering us another comparison between the music of the bells and other kinds of art. A «monody» can be many things – a song sung by one person, a funeral poem, or a sad song. All of them are ways of talking about the link between bells and other kinds of man-made art. For all the talk about bells coming alive in this poem, they are something manmade. We pour them out of metal, and tune them, and play songs on them. What the speaker is really interested in is the way that different sounds can make us feel.
Quote 5 To the pæan of the bells— (line 98)
A «paean» is another word used to describe a musical work of art. It means a song of praise or triumph. In this case, it’s a little bit ironic, since the triumph of the ghouls and the misery they create isn’t really a good thing. It’s all part of the flipping effect in the poem. The speaker is trading the happy ditties of the first two sections for the twisted, triumphant songs of fear and death in the last two sections.
The Bells Theme of Man and the Natural World
«The Bells» is not an obvious nature poem. It isn’t about snowy woods, daffodils /wandered-lonely-cloud-daffodils/, or a nightingale. When you look again, though, you’ll see that the poem is full of images from nature. Take, for example, the night, which is almost like a character in this poem, popping up in each section. Natural images like that help to structure this poem and tie it together, even if they aren’t the main focus.
Quote 1 In the icy air of night! (line 5)
One thing you might not notice immediately about this poem is that each of the sections takes place at night. In a way, the nighttime is almost like a character in the poem. Nighttime is a thread that holds the whole thing together. In this first section, the night is full of happy glittering stars, and everything seems peaceful. Still (and maybe we’re just imagining it because we know what’s coming), isn’t there something a little sinister about that «icy air»?
Quote 2 While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle (lines 6-7)
The stars in this first section twinkle right along with the bells. In the first two chunks of this poem, everything is in harmony. The manmade bells and the natural world sing in tune, and everything is just fine.
Quote 3 To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
On the moon! (line 23-24)
With the exception of the ghouls that show up later, this is the only living thing in the poem that we get a close look at. The turtle-dove is an old symbol of true love and fidelity. That makes her just the right choice for this happy part of the poem. The loving looks that she is giving the moon are important too. Remember, the whole point here is that love and happiness and harmony are everywhere, even in birds and the moon.
Quote 4 In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire, (line 45)
A raging fire is a perfect example of the dark side of nature. Up until this point in the poem, the natural world has been harmless, all cooing birds and twinkling stars. Now it has taken a turn for the worse. It’s frantic, and people and their bells can’t do a thing to stop it. The fire doesn’t have any ears (it’s «deaf»), so it can’t be reasoned with. It’s completely wild and completely independent from the world of mankind.
IV. Заключение (5 мин)
Подведение итогов (3 мин):
Feedback
«The Bells» is one of the most striking works by Edgar Allan Poe, where the sounds and rhythms of speech are masterfully used, creating a special musical sound. The landscape of sounds becomes a symbol of human life, its stages and emotions. The poet shows us how important it is to be able to hear the world around us, because every sound carries a certain meaning.
Now we got acquainted with the amazing work of the American poet Edgar Allan Poe «Bells». We discussed the images of the bells, their symbolism and the mood of the poem. Let’s check the results of the lesson
Рефлексия, оценка работы учеников (1 мин):
Оценить собственное понимание: Now I can explain how sound devices create mood in poetry (шкала от 1 до 5).
Заполнить рефлексивный лист:
One new word I learned today…
One question I still have about the poem…
A sound I would add to this poem if I were the author….
Домашнее задание (1 мин):
Now you know a little more about the work of the great master of the word. If you liked this work, I recommend you to find out HW — How many other onomatopoetic words can you pick out? (Hint: There are a ton of them.)
The lesson is over! Thanks for the work!
