Tick Tock, It's a Clock: Taking Another Look at "The Devil in the Belfry" by Edgar Allan Poe

Hello, Book Nerds! Welcome back to Reading Has Ruined My Life or welcome if you are new. As always, my name is Hannah and I am your captain on this journey into my bookcases.

Many, many moons ago, I wrote a post where I took a look at Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Devil in the Belfry.” It was part review, part insane hot take. Mainly insane hot take. It’s definitely just an insane hot take. If you can figure out what I’m saying that is.

The post I’m referring to is titled Clocks and Cabbages: A Look at “Devil in the Belfry” by Edgar Allan Poe. I wrote this post back in 2020 when I was still trying to find my voice as a writer for RHRML. Really thought writing in mostly slang and snarky comments was it. I was very wrong for thinking that. So you could read the entirety of Clocks and Cabbages and try to find my thesis statement and supporting evidence somewhere in that mess. Or you could just read this post, learn my thesis statement and see it supported by hard evidence; and not hate my writing for five minutes.

So let’s crack in. Please give a warm welcome, officially, to “The Devil in the Belfry” by Our Lord and Savior Edgar Allan Poe!

Bring forth the ravens!

As always, a spoiler alert is in order. If you’ve read any other review or hot take post on this site, then you will know I simply love the spoil the entirety of the books I talk about. This is your one and only warning cause I’m about to spoil everything about this short story.

In the faraway Dutch land of Vondervotteimittiss, life is good. Every day is very much the same, all the people are the same, they eat their sauerkraut, they tend to their pigs, they grow their 24 cabbages in their front lawns, and they all but worship their town’s clocktower. The people of Vondervotteimittiss never leave their little town, and no one ever travels to Vondervotteimittiss.

But one day someone does. It’s our titular Devil. He has come to sow chaos in the community by leaping into the belltower, beating up the belfry keeper with a giant fiddle, and forcing the bells to toll thirteen thus causing the town to descend into madness before skedaddling off. Good stuff!

Where to start, where to start? Oh, yeah, this story takes place in a fancy cuckoo clock on the Devil’s mantel. He gets bored one day and decides to torment the denizens of the clock.

Tick Tock, It's a Clock!!

Why do I believe Vondervotteimittiss is a fancy cuckoo clock? Well, have you ever seen an ornate cuckoo clock? They can get very, very fancy. The carvers who create them are artists. And there are many a clock out there that features a village vignette. Traditionally these village scenes include people in traditional cultural dress; much like the people mentioned in “The Devil in the Belfry.” In addition, all the townspeople are the same. Seriously, they’re exactly the same. Same looks, same personality, same houses, same cabbages, same daily routine; they’re copies of one another.

I should also mention that no one ever leaves Vondervotteimittiss. The village is surrounded by hills. No one ventures into town, and no one leaves. The general mindset of the townspeople is there’s nowhere better than Vondervotteimittiss, so why bother leaving? I believe the people of Vondervotteimittiss are stuck in their town, and whoever created them made it so no one would want to leave. Life in Vondervotteimittiss is good for everyone, so why would anyone even want to leave? Everyone’s life is planned out from the start. It’s honestly a bit dystopian if you think about it. My theory is they can’t leave. The hills go on forever, no other town exists, all because the people of Vondervotteimittiss are part of a clock.

And whose clock is it? Why the Devil’s of course. Only one person ever ventures into Vondervotteimittiss. Once again, this is the Devil. He appears on the hills for everyone to see. They watch him walk into town with his giant fiddle; very much giving some “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” vibes here.

Alas there is no fiddle battle in sight. Instead the Devil chooses to mess with the townspeople by changing their schedule. Everyone in town practically worships their clocktower. It’s the gem of the town. They track time down to the millisecond. So the Devil messes around with what they love most: time. And why do the people of Vondervotteimittiss love time so much? Because they are the figurines of a fancy cuckoo clock on the Devil’s mantel!

“The Devil in the Belfry” is an odd little story, and it’s one I implore you all to read if you haven’t. This short story is nowhere near as famed as “The Black Cat,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Fall of the House of Usher” or any other notable Gothic lit classics by Poe. But “The Devil in the Belfry” should be as known, in my opinion at least. All because this is a silly, little story about a clock atop the Devil’s mantel.

With that, I shall bid you all adieu. Thank you very much for joining me today, Book Nerds. I hope you had a fun time with this post, I had a great time writing it. I will see you all again next week with a kinda unhinged review. See y’all then. If you can’t wait till then, then I highly suggest giving Reading Has Ruined My Life a follow over on Instagram (@ReadingHasRuinedMyLife). I post there almost daily so come back often to revel in literary goodness. You can also follow the blog on Twitter and BlueSky. If you’d like something not related to books then I suggest taking a gander at my podcast Nothing to See Hear. The show stars me and two of my dearest friends as we talk everything and anything. We have episodes on Disney, Barbie, Scooby-Doo, bad 90s wrestling, and so much more! The show can currently be found on Spotify and YouTube.

Until next time, stay safe, wash your hands, and read some good books for me.

See y'all then, bye!