“Ring Out, Wild Bells” by Alfred Lord Tennyson
What is the mood???
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
What is the tone???
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.
TELL WHY
DEFINITIONS:
Redress: justice, rightful doing
Civil slander: false and damaging statements
about people of other nations.
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.
RECALLING:
1. In the first stanza, what word does the speaker use to describe the bells? What is dying? What time of year is
this poem written?
2. What does the speaker tell the bells to “ring out” in the 2nd stanza? What should the bells “ring in”?
3. What does the speaker tell the bells to “ring out” in the 3rd stanza? 4th stanza?
4. According to the last stanza, what should the next thousand years bring?
INTERPRETING:
5. What does the speaker mean by the phrases “ring out” and “ring in”?
6. What does the speaker repeat in the poem to establish its rhythm, and tell why it is appropriate to the poem’s
meaning.
VOCABULARY:
ANTONYMS are words that have the opposite or nearly the opposite meanings. Happiness and sadness are examples of
antonyms. The words in CAPITALS are from “Ring Out, Wild Bells”. Choose the words that most nearly fit the opposite
of each of the words in CAPITAL, as used in the poem.
WILD : (a) controlled (b) responsible (c) confusing (d) jungle
FEUD: (a) many (b) quarrelsome (c) truce (d) money
GRIEF: (a) sadness (b) joy (c) relief (d) death
FOUL: (a) out (b) nasty (c) chicken (d) lovely
SAPS: (a) strengthens (b) syrup (c) weakens (d) drinks