Abstract
This paper discusses that, while meter and rhyme in Poe?s poem ?The Bells? is magical in its own right, these patterns also contribute greatly to the overall effect of the poem. The author feels that rhyme goes hand-in-hand with meter to create the overall mood and tone of Poe?s ?The Bells.? The paper explains that, although each stanza begins and ends with the same metric pattern, trochaic octameter with frequent catalexis, and rhyme scheme, Poe mixes up the meter and rhyme within each stanza.

From the Paper
"The bulk of the stanza bodies is composed in trochaic octameter with alternating catalexis. The first stanza is almost entirely catalectic except for the two lines in the middle: ?While the / stars that / over / sprinkle // All the / heavens / seem to / twinkle.? Similarly, Poe includes lines without catalexis in all the stanzas, and about at the same point in the overall metric pattern and often with the same exact rhyme pattern as well: in the second stanza, the line without catalexis ends in an ?-ing? word, ?ringing,? just as in the first stanza. In the third stanza: ?By the / twanging // And the / clanging,? and in the fourth: ?Feel a / glory / in so / rolling.?"

Tags:mood, tone, stanza, trochaic-octameter, catalexis