~[COMPLETE] The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe - tg

Solo or group recordings that are finished and fully available for listeners
TriciaG
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Post by TriciaG »

The Bells
by Edgar Allan Poe

This project is now complete! All audio files can be found on our catalog page: http://librivox.org/the-bells-by-edgar-allan-poe/

Each fortnight a poem is chosen to be recorded by as many LibriVox volunteers as possible!

This fortnight’s poem can be found here.
"The Bells" is a heavily onomatopoeic poem by Edgar Allan Poe which was not published until after his death in 1849. It is perhaps best known for the diacopic repetition of the word "bells." The poem has four parts to it; each part becomes darker and darker as the poem progresses from "the jingling and the tinkling" of the bells in part 1 to the "moaning and the groaning" of the bells in part 4. (from Wikipedia)
Please be sure that your recording software is set to the following technical specifications:
Channels: 1 (Mono)
Bit Rate: 128 kbps
Sample Rate: 44100 kHz

Have questions on "how"?
Check LV's Recording Notes thread before recording: http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6427#6430
If this is your first recording, you'll also find this useful: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/How_to_Send_Your_Recording

Begin your reading with the abbreviated LibriVox disclaimer:
(Please leave no more than 0.5-1 second of silence at the beginning of your recording!)
The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe, read for LibriVox.org by [your name].
[Add, if you wish, date, your location, and/or your personal url.]
Then read the poem:
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.

Hear the mellow wedding bells,
Golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight!
From the molten-golden notes,
And all in tune,
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
On the moon!
Oh, from out the sounding cells,
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!
How it dwells
On the Future! how it tells
Of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells—
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!

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!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a desperate desire,
And a resolute endeavor
Now—now to sit or never,
By the side of the pale-faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of Despair!

How they clang, and clash, and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear it fully knows,
By the twanging
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows;
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells,—
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells,
Of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells—
In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!

Hear the tolling of the bells,
Iron bells!
What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!
In the silence of the night
How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan.
And the people—ah, the people,
They that dwell up in the steeple,
All alone,
And who tolling, tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
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
A pæan from the bells;
And his merry bosom swells
With the pæan of the bells,
And he dances, and he yells:
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the pæan of the bells,
Of the bells:
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the throbbing of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells—
To the sobbing of the bells;
Keeping time, time, time,
As he knells, knells, knells,
In a happy Runic rhyme,
To the rolling of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells:
To the tolling of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells—
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.
At the end of your reading, leave a space and then say:
End of poem. This recording is in the public domain.
Please leave 5 seconds of silence at the end of your recording.

Save your recording as an mp3 file using the following filename and ID3 tag format:

File name - all in lowercase:bells_poe_[your initials in lowercase].mp3 (eg. bells_poe_klh.mp3)

ID3 tags (Version 2):
Artist: Edgar Allan Poe
Title: The Bells - Read by [YOUR INITIALS] (eg. The Bells - Read by KLH)
Album: LibriVox Fortnightly Poetry
Comments: (optional) Recorded by [your name]

Transfer of files (completed recordings)

Please upload with the LibriVox uploader:
http://upload.librivox.org
Image
If you have trouble reading the image above, please message an admin
You'll need to select the MC, which for this project is: tg - TriciaG

Please post a link to your file in this thread.

When you post your link, please include your name as you would like it credited on the catalogue page and any URL by which you would like it accompanied. (Note: This is only necessary if you have not done so for another project.)

If you wish to contribute, please have your readings submitted by 0600 GMT Sunday, February 13 (12:00am CDT)

(And remember, anyone can suggest a poem for a certain week and/or coordinate an upcoming fortnightly poem! If you'd like to suggest a poem or coordinate a future Poetry project, please visit this thread.)

Magic Window:



BC Admin
Algy Pug
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Joined: December 26th, 2009, 10:07 pm
Location: Perth, Western Australia

Post by Algy Pug »

First cab off the rank!

http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/tg/bells_poe_ghs.mp3
5:18

Cheers

Algy Pug
Algy Pug

My Librivox page



_________________________
TriciaG
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Posts: 61971
Joined: June 15th, 2008, 10:30 pm
Location: Toronto, ON (but Minnesotan to age 32)

Post by TriciaG »

Thanks, Algy!
Vandermast
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Contact:

Post by Vandermast »

I might take a crack at this later.

In the meantime, folks here might enjoy the choral musical version of this poem, put together by the late Eric Woolfson (formerly of the Alan Parsons Project) for his album Poe. Here it is on youtube. :D
ezwa
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Post by ezwa »

Ezwa

« Heureux qui... sait d'une voix légère passer du grave au doux, du plaisant au sévère »
Boileau
« Soyez joyeux dans l'espérance, patients dans la tribulation, persévérants dans la prière. »
Rm 12:12


Envie de lire du dramatique ?
Vandermast
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Location: Circumference everywhere, centre nowhere.
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Post by Vandermast »

Just listened to ezwa's version, it's super! :clap:
TriciaG
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Joined: June 15th, 2008, 10:30 pm
Location: Toronto, ON (but Minnesotan to age 32)

Post by TriciaG »

Is that a PL OK, or were you enjoying without PL'ing? :wink:
Vandermast
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Post by Vandermast »

Heh! That fair belts along! I tried it slow but it had a mind of its own, it was like falling off a cliff! :mrgreen: So then I took out many of the gaps in the edit - felt it best not to fight the will of the ghouls... :twisted:

So:

URL: http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/tg/bells_poe_jcm.mp3
Duration: 3:40(!)
Vandermast
Posts: 694
Joined: January 1st, 2009, 1:52 pm
Location: Circumference everywhere, centre nowhere.
Contact:

Post by Vandermast »

Oh! As regards ezwa's - I was certainly enjoying, and didn't notice anything wrong technically; but I didn't read along with the poem...
TriciaG
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Posts: 61971
Joined: June 15th, 2008, 10:30 pm
Location: Toronto, ON (but Minnesotan to age 32)

Post by TriciaG »

Vandermast wrote:Oh! As regards ezwa's - I was certainly enjoying, and didn't notice anything wrong technically; but I didn't read along with the poem...
Okay - sounds good. Thanks! And thanks for your rendition. :)
Pirvonen
Posts: 108
Joined: January 9th, 2011, 12:34 pm
Location: Central Finland

Post by Pirvonen »

The will of the ghouls, you say? I felt I was channeling Vincent Price with Roger Corman...
http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/tg/bells_poe_ph.mp3
4:45

//Pirv
TriciaG
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Posts: 61971
Joined: June 15th, 2008, 10:30 pm
Location: Toronto, ON (but Minnesotan to age 32)

Post by TriciaG »

Thank you, Pirv!
ezwa
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Post by ezwa »

Thank you, Vandermast!
Ezwa

« Heureux qui... sait d'une voix légère passer du grave au doux, du plaisant au sévère »
Boileau
« Soyez joyeux dans l'espérance, patients dans la tribulation, persévérants dans la prière. »
Rm 12:12


Envie de lire du dramatique ?
LenXZ1
Posts: 1489
Joined: January 21st, 2010, 3:39 pm
Location: Springfield, OH

Post by LenXZ1 »

Here is the cacophonous caterwauling of my version:

http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/tg/bells_poe_llw.mp3
Duration: 4:51

I have used this one several times in public readings and once had my students do a choral reading of it. This is undoubtedly one of the poems that made Ralph Waldo Emerson contemptuously refer to Poe as "the jingle man," but it is an interesting demonstration of the use of sound devices to evoke images and emotions.

Len
"A room without books is like a body without a soul." - Cicero
TriciaG
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 61971
Joined: June 15th, 2008, 10:30 pm
Location: Toronto, ON (but Minnesotan to age 32)

Post by TriciaG »

Thank you, Len!

I was surprised that this one hadn't been done already as a weekly or fortnightly poetry selection. I was excited about it for the reason you stated - it's such an interesting one to read aloud!
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