Ring Out, Wild Bells
| by Alfred, Lord Tennyson | |
| Country | UK |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject(s) | New Year |
| Publication date | 1850 |
"Ring Out, Wild Bells" is a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Published in 1850, the year he was appointed Poet Laureate, it forms part of In Memoriam, Tennyson's elegy to Arthur Henry Hallam, his sister's fiancé who died at the age of twenty-two.
According to a story widely held in Waltham Abbey, and repeated on many websites (see two examples below), the 'wild bells' in question were the bells of the Abbey Church. According to the local story, Tennyson was staying at High Beach in the vicinity and heard the bells being rung. In some versions of the story it was a particularly stormy night and the bells were being swung by the wind rather than deliberately.
The Gresham's School chapel bell is inscribed with the last line of the poem, plus an attribution to the donor: "Ring in the Christ that is to be, Donum Dedit J. R. E."
Manchester Town Hall's hour bell, called 'Great Abel' after the Town Clerk, Abel Heywood, who oversaw the construction of the building - completed 1850, has the lines, 'Ring out the false, ring in the true' cast upon its surface.
A translation to Swedish by Edvard Fredin called 'Nyårsklockan' - 'the new year's bell' - is recited just before the stroke of midnight at the annual new year's eve festivities at Skansen in , capital of Sweden. This tradition began in 1897 when the young Swedish actor Anders de Wahl was asked to recite the poem. de Wahl then performed the poem annually until his death in 1956. Since 1977 the Swedish national public TV broadcaster, SVT, airs the event live, and the first to read the poem on television was the actor Georg Rydeberg. The show turned out to be a major success, and watching it on new year's eve quickly became a nation-wide tradition. Rydeberg recited the poem until his death in 1983. After that many famous Swedish actors and/or singers have recited the poem, for example Jarl Kulle, Jan Malmsjö and Margaretha Krook. It should be noted that the Swedish translation differs significantly from the English original. Inspired by the Swedish tradition, auto manufacturer Volvo used the poem in a 2016 New Year's Eve advertisement.
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Wikipedia