Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 81 by ALFRED TENNYSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: COULD I HAVE SAID WHILE HE WAS HERE
Last Line: IT MIGHT HAVE DRAWN FROM AFTER-HEAT.'
Subject(s): HALLAM, ARTHUR HENRY (1811-1833); DEATH; MOURNING; FRIENDSHIP;
Could I have said while he was here,
'My love shall now no further range;
There cannot come a mellower change,
For now is love mature in ear'?

Love, then, had hope of richer store:
What end is here to my complaint?
This haunting whisper makes me faint,
'More years had made me love thee more.'

But Death returns an answer sweet:
'My sudden frost was sudden gain,
And gave all ripeness to the grain
It might have drawn from after-heat.'



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