Customer Reviews

Ding Dong Bell

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I first learned of Walter de la Mare's "Ding Dong Bell" from a student who was learning Theodore Chanler's song cycle "Eight Epitaphs." All of Chanler's pieces in the much underperformed song cycle come directly from "Ding Dong Bell." As singing written epitaphs is hardly ever done, the cycle intrigued me. I expected the book to read like labored poetry - instead it was highly accessible and well delivered.
The premise of the book is that epitaphs are delivered, but woven within a story line. There are three distinct short stories within:
The first involves a young lady discussing epitaphs from a not too distant graveyard with an older man. She is highly intrigued by his stories and asks for more and more. They part ways when the public transportation separates them.
The second story is my favorite of the three. Two lovers meet and walk to a graveyard. They find it at dusk and use matches to read the tombstones. Their own place in life is determined as they read these epitaphs of by gone days and people who are no longer remembered. They sit and wait until sunrise after the matches are no longer lit. A final epitaph is lit by the sun, which summarizes their thoughts.
The third story is one of a ghostly encounter. Again, someone - a man - is walking in the graveyard. It is a different one than he has ever visited, and he is reading the tombstones. He realizes that he is not alone and sees another person who is in the graveyard with him. They speak, and when he looks away, the person is gone.
The stories themselves are mildly intriguing. The true appeal of De la Mare's prose is his style and wordplay. It is quite beautiful - and almost poetic - but not verbose. For his time, especially considering the fact that he is known for morbidity, the book is quite lovely and sweet, all the while maintaining the delicate confines of the thin line between life and death.