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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 104 by ALFRED TENNYSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: THE TIME DRAWS NEAR THE BIRTH OF CHRIST
Last Line: BUT ALL IS NEW UNHALLOW'D GROUND.
Subject(s): CHRISTMAS; NATIVITY, THE;

The time draws near the birth of Christ;
The moon is hid, the night is still;
A single church below the hill
Is pealing, folded in the mist.

A single peal of bells below,
That wakens at this hour of rest
A single murmur in the breast,
That these are not the bells I know.

Like strangers' voices here they sound,
In lands where not a memory strays,
Nor landmark breathes of other days,
But all is new unhallow'd ground.



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