FOR A BELL AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY
I call as fly the irrevocable hours,
Futile as air or strong as fate to make
Your lives of sand or granite; awful powers,
Even as men choose, they either give or take.
The Annotated Edition
FOR A BELL AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY by James Russell Lowell
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A bell at Cornell University sounds a warning and a challenge: each hour that ticks away is lost forever, and how you spend those hours can turn your life into something delicate or something enduring.
- Themes
- growing-up, identity, mortality
§01Quick summary
What this poem is about
A bell at Cornell University sounds a warning and a challenge: each hour that ticks away is lost forever, and how you spend those hours can turn your life into something delicate or something enduring. The poem essentially presents a four-line argument that time is neutral — it’s our choices that determine whether life becomes sand or stone. Despite its brevity, it conveys a profound philosophy in just a single breath.
§02Themes
Recurring themes
§03Line by line
Stanza by stanza, with notes
I call as fly the irrevocable hours, / Futile as air or strong as fate to make
Editor's note
The bell speaks directly to us. It rings every hour, each chime signaling time that can't be reclaimed — "irrevocable" indicates it's lost the instant it passes. The bell then contrasts those hours: they can be entirely wasted ("futile as air") or hold the weight of destiny ("strong as fate"), contingent on what comes next. The line break after "make" introduces a purposeful pause, leaving the question hanging until the answer comes.
Your lives of sand or granite; awful powers, / Even as men choose, they either give or take.
Editor's note
Here, the bell announces its judgment. Sand falls away; granite remains. Your life becomes one or the other depending on how you choose to spend your time. "Awful powers" doesn't refer to something terrible as we think of it today — it describes powers that evoke awe, a gravity and significance that command respect. The last line is crucial to the entire poem: time doesn't dictate your actions; you shape your relationship with time. The hours present chances or withdraw them, but only because you allow it.
§04Tone & mood
How this poem feels
Solemn and direct, like an inscription carved in stone. The bell's voice commands respect without being preachy—it simply presents facts instead of begging for attention. There’s an underlying urgency, the kind that hits you when the clock strikes, reminding you that another hour has slipped away.
§05Symbols & metaphors
Symbols & metaphors
- The Bell
- The bell represents both a physical object and a symbol of time itself. It doesn’t pass judgment; it merely signals the hours as they go by. By allowing the bell to speak, Lowell personalizes time, making it feel both intimate and unavoidable.
- Sand
- Sand symbolizes a life shaped by wasted or thoughtless time—unstable, easily blown away, and leaving no enduring trace. It's the result of allowing hours to pass without intention.
- Granite
- Granite stands in stark contrast to sand: it's dense, enduring, and tough against erosion. A life of granite is crafted through intentional, significant decisions. This difference from sand is vivid and tangible, easily imagined by anyone.
- The Irrevocable Hours
- "Irrevocable" is the poem's most impactful word. The hours don't simply pass — they are locked away the instant they depart. This symbol of being unable to turn back is what lends the poem its subtle intensity.
§06Historical context
Historical context
James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) was a leading American poet and public figure in the nineteenth century. He served as a professor at Harvard, edited The Atlantic Monthly, and later took on diplomatic roles. Founded in 1865, Cornell University commissioned this poem as an inscription—a brief, meaningful verse intended for a physical object rather than a book. The Victorian era was heavily influenced by the belief in self-improvement and the ethical use of time, ideas shaped by thinkers like Thomas Carlyle and Ralph Waldo Emerson, whom Lowell knew personally. Writing a poem for a university bell was a serious task; the bell would resonate for generations of students, and Lowell's four lines were crafted to accompany them throughout their academic journeys, serving as a constant reminder that how one spends their time is ultimately a matter of personal choice.
§07FAQ
Questions readers ask
It's about how time and choice are connected. The bell signals that each hour that goes by is permanent — it's gone for good. What you choose to do with those hours shapes whether your life becomes something enduring (like granite) or something that crumbles (like sand).
Lowell gives the bell a voice, making it feel like it's speaking directly to you rather than just being a distant sound. When the bell says "I call," it’s reaching out to you personally with each ring. This transforms a simple mechanical object into something with moral significance.
Irrevocable means it can't be undone or taken back. Lowell uses this term to emphasize that time isn't merely moving on — it's closing off permanently behind you. This one word is what gives the poem its sharpness.
In Lowell's time, "awful" meant something more like "awe-inspiring" or "worthy of deep respect," rather than just "terrible." The hours we have hold a weight that should prompt serious reflection — they can create or ruin a life.
It's a single quatrain in iambic pentameter that follows an ABAB rhyme scheme. While it isn’t a sonnet, it resembles an epigram or inscription, crafted to be concise, memorable, and etched in a lasting place.
Every time the bell rings, students should remember that the hour that just passed is lost for good, and whether it mattered is up to them. It's a challenge for them to take their education — and their time — seriously.
Sand and granite share a composition of similar minerals, but they behave quite differently under pressure. Lowell uses this difference as a metaphor: a life shaped by intentional choices remains intact, while one built on squandered time crumbles when faced with challenges.
In the nineteenth century, inscriptions on public objects — bells, buildings, monuments — were viewed as significant moral and civic statements. A university bell rang for every class and every hour of the day, ensuring that the words attached to it resonated with each student repeatedly. Lowell was the right person to ask: he was well-known, a Harvard graduate, and he held a strong belief in the moral purpose of education.
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