9. Other points of resemblance [In.], or of unlikeness [Ex.], were noticed in the reader’s first perusal of this poem, and these, as well as those already remarked upon, will greatly facilitate his learning the exact language of each stanza.

10. Now comes the test. It is often said that habit is “second” nature. The Duke of Wellington more truly said: “Habit is ten times nature.” The reader early acquired the habit of learning prose and poetry by the rote method—the method of repeating the sentences over and over again almost endlessly till ear or eye retains the exact language.

Now, if the reader has gained a clear conception of the Analytic-Synthetic and Interrogative Analysis methods, he is sure to be convinced of their undoubted superiority to the rote method. And if he must needs learn Poe’s “Bells” before to-morrow night, he would probably spend most of the intervening time in trying to learn it by the discredited rote method, and most likely fail in the attempt, while he is satisfied in theory that he could memorise it by one of my methods in three hours, or in half of that time. The difficulty in his case is to induce him to exert his willpower long enough to practise my methods in learning not a few detached sentences, but an entire poem of 50 or 200 lines; but if he does this in one instance, he effectually breaks down the old bad habit of endless unassimilating repetition and introduces a good habit instead. He will then learn Poe’s “Bells” by my methods in one-tenth, if not one-fiftieth, part of the time it would take him to do it by the rote method.

11. I here produce the poem in the hope that every one who studies my System will learn it by the Analytic-Synthetic method, and when he has learned the first stanza he should then glance at my Analysis of it which follows the poem and compare his work with mine. Let him then learn the rest of the poem—and thereafter, as a genuine‌ exercise of his reviving power and as a training in attention, let him recall it as often as once a week for as many weeks as his desire for improvement continues, or until the recital of it becomes merely automatic.

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.

Hear the mellow wedding-bells, golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells—
Through the balmy air of night how they ring out their delight!
From the molten-golden notes, and all in tune,
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats on the moon!
Oh, from out the sounding cells,
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells! how it dwells
On the Future! how it tells of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing of the bells, bells, bells—
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells—
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!

Hear the loud alarum bells—brazen bells!
What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek, out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire
Leaping higher, higher, higher, with a desperate desire,
And a resolute endeavor now—now to sit or never,
By the side of the pale-faced moon. Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
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!
Yet the air, it fully knows,
By the twanging and the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows; yet the ear distinctly tells
In the jangling and the wrangling,
‌ How the danger sinks and swells,
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells—of the bells—
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells—
In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!

Hear the tolling of the bells—iron bells!
What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!
In the silence of the night,
How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats is a groan.
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—
They are neither man nor woman—
They are neither brute nor human—they are Ghouls:
And their king it is who tolls;
And he rolls, rolls, rolls, rolls a pæan from the bells!
And his merry bosom swells with the pæan of the bells!
And he dances and he yells;
Keeping time, time, time, in a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the pæan of the bells—of the bells;
Keeping time, time, time, in a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the throbbing of the bells—of the bells, bells, bells,
To the sobbing of the bells; keeping time, time, time,
As he knells, knells, knells, in a happy Runic rhyme,
To the rolling of the bells—of the bells, bells, bells—
To the tolling of the bells, of the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells—
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.

Edgar A. Poe.

APPLICATION OF THE ANALYTIC-SYNTHETIC METHOD.

This method can be applied in several different ways according to the idiosyncrasies of different students. One way is as follows:—“Hear the sledges with the bells—silver bells.” Applying this method, we have—1. Hear the sledges; 2. Hear the sledges with the bells; 3. Hear the sledges with the bells—bells; 4. Hear the sledges with the bells—silver bells. Or, if we use the Interrogatory Analysis Method we could proceed thus: 1. What act of the mind do we exercise in regard to the sledges with the bells—silver bells? “Hear the sledges with the bells—silver bells.”‌ 2. What kind of a vehicle do we hear with the bells? “Hear the sledges with the bells—silver bells.” 3. What is it we hear in connection with the sledges? “Hear the sledges with the bells—silver bells.” 4. What kind of bells do we hear? “Hear the sledges with the bells—silver bells.”

We advance to the second line, which is a reflection on the facts stated in the first line. The two lines are thus connected through the operation of cause, or occasion. [Con.] “What a world of merriment their melody foretells.” We will henceforth only use the Analytic-Synthetic Method. 1. Melody foretells. 2. Their melody foretells. 3. What merriment their melody foretells. 4. What a world of merriment their melody foretells. Having seen that the second line grows out of the first, and having memorised both we can recall them together thus:

  1. Hear the sledges with the bells—silver bells—
  2. What a world of merriment their melody foretells!

The third line runs thus: “How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle in the icy air of night.” Melody means “a succession of agreeable musical sounds.” It is a general term—“tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,” means a species of musical sounds, the sounds of the bells. Thus we see that these two lines bear towards each other the relation of genus and species. This relation carefully noticed will tend to hold the lines together. Let us now apply our Method: 1. They tinkle. 2. They tinkle in the night. 3. How they tinkle in the night. 4. How they tinkle, tinkle in the night. 5. How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle in the night. 6. How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, in the air of night. 7. How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle in the icy air of night. Now let us recall all the lines together, thus: