Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: J. MILTON MILES by EDGAR LEE MASTERS

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHENEVER THE PRESBYTERIAN BELL / WAS RUNG BY ITSELF
Last Line: NOR EVEN, AT LAST, THE VOICE THAT I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN.
Subject(s): BELLS;
WHENEVER the Presbyterian bell
Was rung by itself, I knew it as the Presbyterian bell.
But when its sound was mingled
With the sound of the Methodist, the Christian,
The Baptist and the Congregational,
I could no longer distinguish it,
Nor any one from the others, or either of them.
And as many voices called to me in life
Marvel not that I could not tell
The true from the false,
Nor even, at last, the voice that I should have known.



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