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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 4 by ALFRED TENNYSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: TO SLEEP I GIVE MY POWERS AWAY
Last Line: THOU SHALT NOT BE THE FOOL OF LOSS.'
Subject(s): HALLAM, ARTHUR HENRY (1811-1833); DEATH; MOURNING; FRIENDSHIP;

To Sleep I give my powers away;
My will is bondsman to the dark;
I sit within a helmless bark,
And with my heart I muse and say:

O heart, how fares it with thee now,
That thou shouldst fail from thy desire,
Who scarcely darest to inquire,
'What is it makes me beat so low?'

Something it is which thou hast lost,
Some pleasure from thine early years.
Break, thou deep vase of chilling tears,
That grief hath shaken into frost!

Such clouds of nameless trouble cross
All night below the darken'd eyes;
With morning wakes the will, and cries,
'Thou shalt not be the fool of loss.'



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