Methinks
were, so till 1850, when it was altered to
the present reading.
the present reading.
Tennyson
See Napier, 'The
Laureate's County', pp. 22, 40-41. ]
[Footnote 5: This is the Somersby brook which so often reappears in
Tennyson's poetry, cf. 'Millers Daughter, A Farewell', and 'In
Memoriam', 1 xxix. and c. ]
[Footnote 6: 1830. Waked. For the epithet "dew-impearled" 'cf'.
Drayton, Ideas, sonnet liii. , "amongst the dainty 'dew-impearled
flowers'," where the epithet is more appropriate and intelligible. ]
[Footnote 7: 1830. The few. ]
[Footnote 8: 1830 and 1842. Thee. ]
[Footnote 9: 1830.
Methinks were, so till 1850, when it was altered to
the present reading. ]
[Footnote 10: The cottage at Maplethorpe where the Tennysons used to
spend the summer holidays. (See 'Life', i. , 46. )]
[Footnote 11: 1830. Emblems or Glimpses of Eternity. ]
[Footnote 12: 1830. Pleached. The whole of this passage is an exact
description of the Parsonage garden at Somersby. See 'Life', i. , 27. ]
SONG
First printed in 1830.
The poem was written in the garden at the Old Rectory, Somersby; an
autumn scene there which it faithfully describes. This poem seems to
have haunted Poe, a fervent admirer of Tennyson's early poems.
1
A Spirit haunts the year's last hours
Dwelling amid these yellowing bowers:
To himself he talks;
For at eventide, listening earnestly,
At his work you may hear him sob and sigh
In the walks;
Earthward he boweth the heavy stalks
Of the mouldering flowers:
Heavily hangs the broad sunflower
Over its grave i' the earth so chilly;
Heavily hangs the hollyhock,
Heavily hangs the tiger-lily.
2
The air is damp, and hush'd, and close,
As a sick man's room when he taketh repose
An hour before death;
My very heart faints and my whole soul grieves
At the moist rich smell of the rotting leaves,
And the breath
Of the fading edges of box beneath,
And the year's last rose.
Laureate's County', pp. 22, 40-41. ]
[Footnote 5: This is the Somersby brook which so often reappears in
Tennyson's poetry, cf. 'Millers Daughter, A Farewell', and 'In
Memoriam', 1 xxix. and c. ]
[Footnote 6: 1830. Waked. For the epithet "dew-impearled" 'cf'.
Drayton, Ideas, sonnet liii. , "amongst the dainty 'dew-impearled
flowers'," where the epithet is more appropriate and intelligible. ]
[Footnote 7: 1830. The few. ]
[Footnote 8: 1830 and 1842. Thee. ]
[Footnote 9: 1830.
Methinks were, so till 1850, when it was altered to
the present reading. ]
[Footnote 10: The cottage at Maplethorpe where the Tennysons used to
spend the summer holidays. (See 'Life', i. , 46. )]
[Footnote 11: 1830. Emblems or Glimpses of Eternity. ]
[Footnote 12: 1830. Pleached. The whole of this passage is an exact
description of the Parsonage garden at Somersby. See 'Life', i. , 27. ]
SONG
First printed in 1830.
The poem was written in the garden at the Old Rectory, Somersby; an
autumn scene there which it faithfully describes. This poem seems to
have haunted Poe, a fervent admirer of Tennyson's early poems.
1
A Spirit haunts the year's last hours
Dwelling amid these yellowing bowers:
To himself he talks;
For at eventide, listening earnestly,
At his work you may hear him sob and sigh
In the walks;
Earthward he boweth the heavy stalks
Of the mouldering flowers:
Heavily hangs the broad sunflower
Over its grave i' the earth so chilly;
Heavily hangs the hollyhock,
Heavily hangs the tiger-lily.
2
The air is damp, and hush'd, and close,
As a sick man's room when he taketh repose
An hour before death;
My very heart faints and my whole soul grieves
At the moist rich smell of the rotting leaves,
And the breath
Of the fading edges of box beneath,
And the year's last rose.
