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‘And ask ye why these sad tears stream?’
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7.8
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(26
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'And ask ye why these sad tears stream?'
‘Te somnia nostra reducunt.’
OVID.
And ask ye why these sad tears stream?
Why these wan eyes are dim with weeping?
I had a dream–a lovely dream,
Of her that in the grave is sleeping.
I saw her as ’twas yesterday,
The bloom upon her cheek still glowing;
And round her play’d a golden ray,
And on her brows were gay flowers blowing.
With angel-hand she swept a lyre,
A garland red with roses bound it;
Its strings were wreath’d with lambent fire
And amaranth was woven round it.
I saw her mid the realms of light,
In everlasting radiance gleaming;
Co-equal with the seraphs bright,
Mid thousand thousand angels beaming.
I strove to reach her, when, behold,
Those fairy forms of bliss Elysian,
And all that rich scene wrapt in gold,
Faded in air–a lovely vision!
And I awoke, but oh! to me
That waking hour was doubly weary;
And yet I could not envy thee,
Although so blest, and I so dreary.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
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Read poems about / on: fairy, sad, dream, angel, red, fire, light, flower, rose, sleep
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Comments about this poem (‘And ask ye why these sad tears stream?’
by
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
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Alfred, Lord Tennyson
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Michael Harmon
(11/7/2009 1:49:00 PM) |
from www.accessmylibrary.com/.../sappho-and-making-tennysonian.html
Tennyson's interest in Sappho began early in his career and lasted long. In the 1827 volume, Poems by Two Brothers, he quoted a line from the Ovidian ode, 'Sappho to the absent Phaon'-'Te somnia nostra reducunt |You my dreams bring back to me~'-as an epigraph to his own lyric, 'And ask ye why these sad tears stream.'
~~~~~~~
Historically, Sappho has been called the 'Tenth Muse', and was highly regarded by Tennyson (et al) as one of the greatest poets in history.
And I awoke, but oh! to me
That waking hour was doubly weary;
And yet I could not envy thee,
Although so blest, and I so dreary.
-acknowledging the generally Victorian nature of this poem, I would suggest these last lines (particularly “and yet I could not envy thee/Although so blest”) point to the development of what we might call more modern sentiments.
I often find comments on PH Poems of the Day odd, since they often only paraphrase the theme of the poem under consideration, rather than mentioning any specific poetic aspects that might be interesting to note. For instance, I noticed Tennyson's conscious alteration of masculine and feminine line endings. As with all things, especially from a poet with Tennyson's literary standing, his decision to do that would, to my mind, be a relevant aspect to this poem. And I would doubtless argue that a careful consideration of his metre and syntax (beautifully crafted, as always) would lead one to find further things of interest as they relate to theme.
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Kevin Straw
(11/7/2009 5:49:00 AM) |
This is Victorian death at its most ornate and fantastic. One can almost see the ornate tomb of the beloved with its stone cherubs and angels, and its lugubriouly sentimental inscription. In fact, the poem almost loses itself to the modern reader by being so steeped in a mythic and emotional reaction to death so specific to the Victorian culture. Were this poem not by Tennyson, I doubt it would have survived.
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Ramesh T A
(11/7/2009 1:02:00 AM) |
A lathe state perhaps could have placed Lord Tennyson to dream a lovely lady of his desire and its effect made him write this wonderful poem beautiful!
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Frank James Ryan, Jr.
(11/8/2008 12:07:00 AM) |
Tennyson's acumen for striking, vivid depiction places him in the very upper echelon of our Classic literary Versemasters.
FjR
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Krista Churchill
(11/7/2008 12:16:00 AM) |
awesome write i love the way you wrote this
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Joan Forbush
(3/16/2008 6:12:00 PM) |
Wonderful. Like so many dreams that I've had.
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Irving Montero
(12/28/2004 7:20:00 PM) |
This poem really makes me appreciate my loved ones! ! !
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