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!
…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”
—Edgar Allan Poe, “The Bells”
—Staff writer Keerthi Reddy can be reached at kreddy@college.harvard.edu.