2024

“Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky…”
These words from Tennyson’s poem resonate with timeless significance, capturing the essence of saying goodbye to the old year and embracing the possibilities of the new.
Written in 1850, yet so applicable to our day with its rudeness and strife, it is a reminder that the need for the peacemaking presence of “the Christ that is to be” is as relevant as ever.

The fifth stanza says

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times;

We are called to be faithful in these times, in the midst of all the ugliness.

Here is a version of the poem, set to music by Alana Levandoski, followed by Malcolm Guite reading it.

Ring Out Wild Bells

lyrics by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, music by Alana Levandoski

 

For another version by Alana go here

Here is the poet Malcolm Guite reading Tennyson’s passage about the New Year Bells