English Literature

I believe that the most important part of the poem, The Village Bell is the third stanza.  The reason for this is that if one reads through the poem, the first stanza simply states the narrative of the poem, or better yet, the description of the village bell and what it is used for.  While the narrative is very important of poetry, it only serves to set the tone and the direction of the poem.  Then, the second stanza is the stanza the poem acquires its persona because it is in this stanza that the voice speaks about hisher own death and what happens when heshe dies.  Putting these first two stanzas together, one is left hanging as to the relationship of the bell to the death of the voice.  Of course, it is suggested that the bell tolls for the dead, and then in the second stanza the voice dies, but so what  The third stanza is where the poem acquires deeper meaning and what most literaturists would term as the emotional anchor.  It is in this stanza that the voice allows the reader into the poem by giving the reader the opportunity to feel the way the voice feels in the poem.  This is why this particular stanza is very important.

The stanza begins with, If some pious hand rings you in my honor,  Oh Sadden no one with your brazen sobs. (19-20) and here in these lines we now see how the voice perceives his death that his death, despite meriting the tolling of the village bell, should anyone ring it for himher, should not cause grief to those who hear it, hence, the phrase brazen sobs.  Although this could indicate the voices perception of his death, it also indicates that although the bell is told for death, it does not feel anything, hence the word, brazen.  The stanza continues with, Do not go begging tears from the horizon  But put on your festival voice, and ring over my tomb With the joyous noise of a chain falling  On the free threshold of a prison (21-24) and these lines confirm the earlier assumption that the stanza speaks of the voices perception of death being an event that should not be sorrowful, but rather, joyful, because death represents a freedom from the bondage of life, hence the final lines to this stanza, With the joyous noise of a chain falling  On the free threshold of a prison (23-24) This stanza gives the entire poem heart and allows the audience to identify with the emotions of the poem, therefore, making it the most important stanza in the entire piece.  The last stanza serves the same purpose as this third stanza and allows the poem to move towards silence.