Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 5 by ALFRED TENNYSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: I SOMETIMES HOLD IT HALF A SIN
Last Line: IS GIVEN IN OUTLINE AND NO MORE.
Subject(s): DEATH; GRIEF; DEAD, THE; SORROW; SADNESS;

I sometimes hold it half a sin
To put in words the grief I feel:
For words, like Nature, half reveal
And half conceal the Soul within.
But, for the unquiet heart and brain,
A use in measured language lies;
The sad mechanic exercise,
Like dull narcotics, numbing pain.
In words, like weeds, I'll wrap me o'er,
Like coarsest clothes against the cold,
But that large grief which these enfold
Is given in outline and no more.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net