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#113832 10/18/03 01:31 PM
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"It was drowned in the tintinnabulation of the gong, which sounding again with great fury, there was a general move towards the dining-room; still excepting Briggs the story boy, who remained where he was, and as he was; and on its way to whom Paul presently encountered a round of bread, genteelly served on a plate and napkin, and with a silver fork lying crosswise on the top of it."

I have been under the impression that this word was coined by Poe, but he may have gotten it from Dickens.


#113833 10/18/03 01:44 PM
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well the Poe usage is attributed to 1831, and Dickens would have only been 19.

edit a little further research makes me think that 1831 might be a bit early for Poe as well... someone who actually knows something could chime in anytime here...


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#113834 10/18/03 03:43 PM
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Dear etaoin: Are you sure of Poe's dates? Site I found says he was only about three years younger than Dickens:
Best known for his poems and short fiction, Edgar Allan Poe, born in Boston, Jan. 19, 1809, died Oct. 7, 1849 .
Dickens was born in 1812.


The Raven and Other Poems (1845)
Edgar Allen Poe: The Bells
Date: c1845



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Poe lived in the Bronx for number of years, and his house can still be visited a few blacks from Fordham, on the Grand Concourse. You could not hear the bells of University Church there now - the din of the Bronx is too great, and since the Church was only built in 1845, its bells would have had to have had a dramatic effect on Poe. Still, stranger things have happened

Dombey and Son (1846-8)

Dear etaoin: Looks as though your comment is well founded.
But only by a rather small margin. I had a lot of trouble locating date for Dombey and Son. Can't be sure the date give is correct, but think it probably is. I had fun searching.




#113835 10/18/03 08:24 PM
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OED1 does list Poe's 1831 usage as the earliest for tintinabulation but it also lists tintinabulant, tintinabular, tintinabulary, tintinabulism and tintinabulous at various dates between 1767 and 1827 and tintinabulum, a small bell, at 1398.


#113836 10/19/03 02:41 AM
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with Faldage's references, it looks as if maybe they both got it from somewhere else. or developed it separately. would they have known each other's works?
the biographical info I had came from http://www.biography.com



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#113837 10/19/03 04:19 AM
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my parents had an apartment in the bronx, the building bore a placque, noting that 'Poe's cottage' now located across the street in a park, was orginally located there. (i know poe's cottage very well, too!)

the site was about a half mile away from the fordham chapel-as the crow flys-- (i know all the bronx well, but especially that area, and the FU campus. i actually met my ex husband at a service held in the chapel!) Fordham U is in valley/edge of small plain, (the eastern end is less than a half mile from the bronx river) Poe's cottage was on the beginning of the 'kingsbridge cresant' a cresant shaped highland, that marks the highest point of the land. (the highest point of the cresant is the now the site of a VA hospital)

as a child, i could here the chapel bells, (especially in the winter) even though, at that point in time, there was an elevated train between our house and the Fordham campus! I didn't hear them all the time, but then they didn't chime on the hour, as the local church(Our Lady of Mercy) bells did, but only on special occations.

As kids,we commonly cut through the campus (there was a passenger tressel bridge over the metro north tracks that mark the western edge of the campus) to get to the botanical gardens.(the wrought iron fencing of the RR station was bent, to allow student quick access to the station the northern end of the station was quite close to the quad and dorms.)
i am not surprized Poe would have heard the chapel bells.



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