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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE DAY-DREAM: PROLOGUE by ALFRED TENNYSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: O LADY FLORA, LET ME SPEAK
Last Line: AND ORDER'D WORDS ASUNDER FLY.
Subject(s): RELIGION; THEOLOGY;

O LADY FLORA, let me speak;
A pleasant hour has passed away
While, dreaming on your damask cheek,
The dewy sister-eyelids lay.
As by the lattice you reclined,
I went thro' many wayward moods
To see you dreaming -- and, behind,
A summer crisp with shining woods.
And I too dream'd, until at last
Across my fancy, brooding warm,
The reflex of a legend past,
And loosely settled into form.
And would you have the thought I had,
And see the vision that I saw,
Then take the broidery-frame, and add
A crimson to the quaint macaw,
And I will tell it. Turn your face,
Nor look with that too-earnest eye --
The rhymes are dazzled from their place
And order'd words asunder fly.





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