05 March, 2012

Tintinnabulation

Have you ever heard of the word, "tintinnabulation"?  Neither had we, until we learned this first verse from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe:

The Bells

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.

We memorised the first verse as part of a lesson in First Language Lessons Level Three, by Susan Wise Bauer. 
Tintinnabulation simply means the sounds of ringing bells.

The poem continues with a further three verses, read it here or enjoy listening to the poem here.

Perhaps we will memorise the remaining verses one day.

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