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''The Sunken Bell'' (german: Die versunkene Glocke) is a poetic play in
''The Sunken Bell'' (german: Die versunkene Glocke) is a poetic play in blank verse
Blank verse is poetry written with regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always in iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century", and Pa ...
by Gerhart Hauptmann
Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (; 15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of literary naturalism, though he integrated other styles into his work as well. He rece ...
(2. December 1896 in Berlin).
Plot
It is a fairy drama, the chief human character of which is Heinrich, a masterbellfounder
Bellfounding is the casting and tuning of large bronze bells in a foundry for use such as in churches, clock towers and public buildings, either to signify the time or an event, or as a musical carillon or chime. Large bells are made by casting ...
who has completed his crowning work, a bell which is to be hung in a church on a mountain inhabited by sprites. Through the hostility of the sprites, the wagon bearing the bell is overthrown and the latter is sunk in a mountain lake. Heinrich is injured and is nursed by the chief personage of the drama, Rautendelein, half child, half fairy, whose love changes Heinrich's standards and brings about the death of his wife.
See also
* '' La campana sommersa'', an opera by Ottorino Respighi based on the playNotes
References
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sunken Bell Plays by Gerhart Hauptmann 1896 plays Plays about fairies and sprites