“There was such speed in her little body,   

And such lightness in her footfall,   

It is no wonder her brown study

Astonishes us all.

Her wars were bruited in our high window.   

We looked among orchard trees and beyond   

Where she took arms against her shadow,   

Or harried unto the pond

The lazy geese, like a snow cloud

Dripping their snow on the green grass,   

Tricking and stopping, sleepy and proud,   

Who cried in goose, Alas,

For the tireless heart within the little   

Lady with rod that made them rise

From their noon apple-dreams and scuttle   

Goose-fashion under the skies!

But now go the bells, and we are ready,   

In one house we are sternly stopped

To say we are vexed at her brown study,   

Lying so primly propped.”

“Bells for John Whiteside’s Daughter” by John Crow Ransom, is actually one of the better poems I’ve read in a while. In the beginning it starts with AN ABAB rhyme, which really sounds wonderful in my ears. It holds that same beat with CDCD, EFEF, etc.  In the first stanza, it also introduces the main character very quickly and jumps into the piece. The second stanza,  the speaker puts her against a more naturalistic feel to show her flaws/horrors. In the second stanza the speaker even takes a moment to add in “orchard trees” which can easily be connected to the Garden of Eden, and how she “took her arms against her shadow”, as if she was fighting the devil inside of herself and that she was the human who denied the “snake”. It’s really interesting how in the third stanza the speaker decides to describe poop as snow in “the green grass”, creating an ironic device within it. It conflicts the seasonal differences, and shows how the beauty is starting to be hidden. The fourth stanza gives the character a sense of leadership and power, by saying she can “make them rise”. And than from their “noon apple-dreams”, whereas if apple is sin, than that means she can make them pure. She can be interpreted as a savior. In the last stanza, bells are commonly known as “time” in older times because of the bells on clocks. They stop at one house, separating her as someone difference. It is realized in the last line though when the speaker says “to say we are vexed at her brown study/lying so primly propped” that she is actually dead. If she is interpreted as innocent, this can also be an ironic factor because she is dead. Though she is dead, she still holds an imprint on life and is obviously still remembered.