WRITTEN IN AID OF A CHIME OF BELLS FOR CHRIST CHURCH, CAMBRIDGE by James Russell Lowell: Summary, Meaning & Analysis
Lowell imagines a grand, fictional cathedral called "Godminster," where every Christian tradition, every saint and sinner, and every hymn and chant blend into a single act of worship.
The poem
Godminster? Is it Fancy's play? I know not, but the word Sings in my heart, nor can I say Whether 'twas dreamed or heard; Yet fragrant in my mind it clings As blossoms after rain, And builds of half-remembered things This vision in my brain. Through aisles of long-drawn centuries My spirit walks in thought, And to that symbol lifts its eyes Which God's own pity wrought; From Calvary shines the altar's gleam, The Church's East is there, The Ages one great minster seem, That throbs with praise and prayer. And all the way from Calvary down The carven pavement shows Their graves who won the martyr's crown And safe in God repose; The saints of many a warring creed Who now in heaven have learned That all paths to the Father lead Where Self the feet have spurned. And, as the mystic aisles I pace, By aureoled workmen built, Lives ending at the Cross I trace Alike through grace and guilt; One Mary bathes the blessed feet With ointment from her eyes, With spikenard one, and both are sweet, For both are sacrifice. Moravian hymn and Roman chant In one devotion blend, To speak the soul's eternal want Of Him, the inmost friend; One prayer soars cleansed with martyr fire, One choked with sinner's tears, In heaven both meet in one desire, And God one music hears. Whilst thus I dream, the bells clash out Upon the Sabbath air, Each seems a hostile faith to shout, A selfish form of prayer: My dream is shattered, yet who knows But in that heaven so near These discords find harmonious close In God's atoning ear? O chime of sweet Saint Charity, Peal soon that Easter morn When Christ for all shall risen be, And in all hearts new-born! That Pentecost when utterance clear To all men shall be given, When all shall say _My Brother_ here, And hear _My Son_ in heaven!
Lowell imagines a grand, fictional cathedral called "Godminster," where every Christian tradition, every saint and sinner, and every hymn and chant blend into a single act of worship. His daydream is interrupted by the actual sound of church bells, which now seem to clash and argue instead of bringing unity. Yet the poem concludes on a hopeful note: perhaps God perceives all those dissonances as one perfect harmony, and someday everyone will refer to one another as "brother."
Line-by-line
Godminster? Is it Fancy's play? / I know not, but the word
Through aisles of long-drawn centuries / My spirit walks in thought,
And all the way from Calvary down / The carven pavement shows
And, as the mystic aisles I pace, / By aureoled workmen built,
Moravian hymn and Roman chant / In one devotion blend,
Whilst thus I dream, the bells clash out / Upon the Sabbath air,
O chime of sweet Saint Charity, / Peal soon that Easter morn
Tone & mood
The tone is reflective and gently hopeful — the voice of someone immersed in a waking dream who truly believes that dream holds significance. A sense of quiet reverence runs through the piece, yet it never veers into seriousness; Lowell maintains a personal, curious approach rather than a bombastic one. When the bells interrupt the moment in stanza six, there's a hint of bittersweetness before the poem rises once more into hope. The overall impression is of a man who cherishes spirituality more than any specific faith — open-hearted, inclusive, and slightly nostalgic.
Symbols & metaphors
- Godminster — An imagined cathedral that only the speaker envisions. It symbolizes the ideal of a universal Christianity — one that embraces every tradition, every martyr, every sinner — in contrast to any actual, divided institution.
- The carven pavement — The floor of the dream-cathedral is etched with the graves of martyrs from different faiths caught in conflict. It reflects the painful history of religious strife, while also honoring the shared sacrifices that form the foundation of genuine belief.
- The two Marys — The two women in the Gospels who anointed Jesus—one with tears and the other with expensive oil—symbolize two different paths to God: guilt and grace. The poem suggests that both forms of devotion are equally beautiful, emphasizing that the sincerity behind the act is what truly counts.
- The clashing bells — The real church bells that break the dream represent the clamor of sectarian disagreement — each denomination tolling its own truth — unlike the harmonious music that God is believed to hear in heaven.
- Easter and Pentecost — The final stanza refers to two Christian feasts as future events instead of past ones. They symbolize the anticipated moment of universal brotherhood — the eschatological hope that fuels the entire poem.
- Calvary / the altar's gleam — The crucifixion serves as the central moment from which all of Christian history unfolds. In the poem, it acts as the shared foundation for all traditions, the common source of light that makes Godminster possible.
Historical context
James Russell Lowell wrote this poem to help raise funds for a new chime of bells at Christ Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a congregation with deep ties to the American Episcopal tradition. As a Harvard professor, diplomat, and prominent literary figure in nineteenth-century New England, Lowell created his work amid a time of intense Protestant division in America, when rivalries between denominations were pronounced and ecumenism was a rare viewpoint. The poem captures a Romantic-era yearning for Christian unity, resonating with writers like Coleridge and Tennyson in Britain. By mentioning Moravians alongside Roman chant, Lowell took an inclusive approach for his time, reaching out to traditions often overlooked by mainstream American Protestantism. The poem’s focus on bells serves as a powerful structural element: the instrument intended to gather all worshippers together becomes, in reality, a symbol of division, while in the envisioned future, it represents reconciliation.
FAQ
Lowell created the term by blending "God" with "minster," which is an old English word for a large church or cathedral. This made-up word allows him to depict an ideal, imaginary place of worship that isn’t tied to any specific denomination — it’s more like a cathedral of the mind than a physical structure.
On the surface, it appears to be a poem aimed at raising funds for a set of church bells. But at its core, it's making a case for Christian unity. Lowell envisions a dream cathedral where all traditions—Catholic, Protestant, martyr, sinner—come together in worship. When he awakens, he hears real bells ringing out, echoing the divisions among sects. He concludes with the hope that, despite these differences, God hears it all as one harmonious music.
Lowell mentions two women from the Gospels who anointed Jesus. One, described in Luke 7, was a sinful woman who wept and washed his feet with her tears. The other, found in John 12, was Mary of Bethany, who anointed him with costly spikenard oil. Lowell considers both acts equally sacred, emphasizing that both represent genuine sacrifice; his argument is that guilt and grace are both valid routes to God.
The bells of Christ Church ring loudly, shattering the reverie. In his dream, all faiths come together in harmony; in real life, each bell strikes Lowell as a separate sect proclaiming its own beliefs. It's a moment of genuine disappointment — the ideal contrasts sharply with reality — but he quickly wonders if God could perceive the discord as a form of harmony, preventing the poem from concluding in despair.
"Atoning" refers to the theological concept of reconciling or restoring wholeness. When we speak of God's "atoning ear," we imply that it can take broken, discordant sounds and perceive them as a unified whole — much like Christian theology teaches that God's atonement mends broken, sinful humanity. This creates a clever dual meaning: God both forgives and harmonizes.
There isn’t a historical figure known as Saint Charity in the traditional sense. Lowell embodies charity—understood as love in the expansive, New Testament context—by portraying it as a saint and refers to the bells as her chime. This suggests that the bells should ring not for any specific belief, but for love itself.
He's not discussing holidays as we celebrate them today. Instead, he envisions them as future, universal events yet to come — an Easter when Christ is "risen in all hearts," and a Pentecost when everyone can communicate and understand each other despite all divisions. This expresses an eschatological hope: a world that isn’t here yet, but is certainly worth celebrating.
Neither—it's intentionally the opposite. Lowell places Roman chant and Moravian hymns next to each other as equals, and his dream-cathedral includes martyrs from every "warring creed." For a mid-nineteenth-century American Protestant writing for an Episcopal congregation, that's a remarkably inclusive move. The poem argues that sectarian rivalry is a human issue, not a divine one.