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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNET (8) by ALFRED TENNYSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: CHECK EVERY OUTFLASH, EVERY RUDER SALLY
Last Line: WHEN IN THIS VALLEY FIRST I TOLD MY LOVE.

CHECK every outflash, every ruder sally
Of thought and speech; speak low, and give up wholly
Thy spirit to mild-minded Melancholy;
This is the place. Through yonder poplar alley
Below the blue-green river windeth slowly;
But in the middle of the sombre valley
The crisped waters whisper musically,
And all the haunted place is dark and holy.
The nightingale, with long and low preamble,
Warbled from yonder knoll of solemn larches,
And in and out the woodbine's flowery arches
The summer midges wove their wanton gambol,
And all the white-stemmed pinewood slept above --
When in this valley first I told my love.





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