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.
-- From "The Bells," Edgar Allen Poe, 1849Eight years ago, my boyfriend BG left Manhattan for a small studio apartment in the Bronx. Being a tad on the paranoid side, he does not like to keep all his windows wide open, and the apartment can get rather dark. However, the one room in the place with a great view is the bathroom, and the window is left unshaded for the entertainment of BG's cat, who can observe the pigeons who love to vex her from the safety of the outside windowsill. Here, the sun streams in all day, and looking out one can see some of the buildings of Fordham University in the distance - including, I believe, the spires of its church. Since most buildings here are no higher than six stories, I've often remarked to BG that looking out the window and seeing the low rooftops makes me feel like I might be in a garret in Paris.
Near BG's apartment lies Poe Park. Within it sits Poe Cottage, where Edgar Allen Poe lived from 1846-1849. Poe moved there with his ailing wife in an attempt to escape the crowded city for the then-bucolic atmosphere and fresh air of the Bronx.
During these years, one of the poems Poe composed was "The Bells." In 1845 the University Church — located within what is now known as Fordham University — was constructed. It is possible that the chiming of these church bells inspired this famous poem. At least, I like to think so.
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Article comments
1 - Roberta Rosenberg
Every other Sunday, my family and I would drive past Poe Park and Poe's Cottage on the way to visit my grandfather and aunt. I was always fascinated by its dollhouse-like proportions surrounded by urban highways and apartment buildings. Thanks for stirring a happy memory!
2 - Elvira Black
Roberta:
Thanks so much for your comment. The city is investing more in all five boroughs now, and I can see the changes happening in the local parks. Poe Park was recently renovated, and they have plans to create, I think, a multimedia visitor's center for Poe Cottage.
The city changes so rapidly, and sometimes would-be landmarks get destroyed in the name of "progress." I'm glad that Poe Cottage has remained intact as a historic museum site.