“Bells for John Whiteside’s Daughter” was written by John Crowe Ransom. The poem was about a girl who had died. The community was taken aback from her suicide
Her illness went by unnoticed, “bruited in [their] high window. The rumors that went around the town were brushed off like dust or put to the back of their mind because she had such a “lightness”. The dark thoughts that bubbled in her mind gradually built up like snow. With all of the courage she could muster she decided the only way she could make them leave was for them to be vanquished all together with her. Now the community stands “vexed” on how this could happen but are too late for this child. However when warning signs go off now the stand ready and the little girl acts as an example for the rest of the town.
Ransom uses copious amounts of figurative language; one major device is symbolism. Her mental illness takes the form of “lazy geese” dropping dark thoughts into her once fertile mind. His tone throughout the poem in confused and melancholy. The speaker is sad that the girl is gone but learns from mistakes previously made.
This poem aids to warn against repeating history and honors a little girl life. Her illness took over her mind and lead her to die. The speaker was deeply affected by her life and death. Hopefully the community learned from the death of John Whiteside’s Daughter.