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.
- Edgar Allan Poe 1809-1849
Wow...talk about being snapped back into a long-ago English class when we studied that verse!!! I don't believe I've seen it since then, but is's truly an amazing piece! Thank you for putting it back on the front burner for me...it's quite remarkable, and so timely for the season!
@Weezilou - in high school, my teachers insisted i join the declamation and oratorical club. one of the teachers was so amused as i could pronounce tintinnabulation without stammering or breaking into laughter. these days, whenever i get to use the word, people would look at me like i have two heads and ask "tin what?" surprised i can still recite the whole poem without blinking. and that's been like 40-some years ago. god i'm old!
@summerfield Ken hadn't heard it before (though he said he thought he knew almost all of Poe's works) so I took pleasure in reading it aloud to him. Besides the tintinnabulation, "sledges" is a most amazing word choice , too.
@summerfield I'm too pooped. My week kicked my ass. I finished this week, too, and went back to work. Maybe I will do the theme next week on my own. I took it off, too. Hope to normalize soon.
