Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO THE REV. F.D. MAURICE, by ALFRED TENNYSON Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Come, when no graver cares employ Last Line: January, 1'54. Alternate Author Name(s): Tennyson, Lord Alfred; Tennyson, 1st Baron; Tennyson Of Aldworth And Farringford, Baron Subject(s): Maurice, Frederick Denison (1805-1872) | ||||||||
COME, when no graver cares employ, Godfather, come and see your boy: Your presence will be sun in winter, Making the little one leap for joy. For, being of that honest few, Who give the Fiend himself his due, Should eighty thousand college-councils Thunder 'Anathema', friend, at you; Should all our churchmen foam in spite At you, so careful of the right, Yet one lay-hearth would give you welcome (Take it and come) to the Isle of Wight; Where, far from noise and smoke of town, I watch the twilight falling brown All round a careless ordered garden Close to the ridge of a noble down. You'll have no scandal while you dine, But honest talk and wholesome wine, And only hear the magpie gossip Garrulous under a roof of pine: For groves of pine on either hand, To break the blast of winter, stand; And further on, the hoary Channel Tumbles a breaker on chalk and sand; Where, if below the milky steep Some ship of battle slowly creep, And on through zones of light and shadow Glimmer away to the lonely deep, We might discuss the Northern sin Which made a selfish war begin; Dispute the claims, arrange the chances; Emperor, Ottoman, which shall win: Or whether war's avenging rod Shall lash all Europe into blood Till you should turn to dearer matters, Dear to the man that is dear to God; How best to help the slender store, How mend the dwellings, of the poor; How gain in life, as life advances, Valour and charity more and more Come, Maurice, come: the lawn as yet Is hoar with rime, or spongy-wet; But when the wreath of March has blossomed, Crocus, anemone, violet, Or later, pay one visit here, For those are few we hold as dear; Nor pay but one, but come for many, Many and many a happy year. January, 1'54. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A CHARACTER by ALFRED TENNYSON A DEDICATION by ALFRED TENNYSON A DREAM OF FAIR WOMEN by ALFRED TENNYSON BREAK, BREAK, BREAK by ALFRED TENNYSON CROSSING THE BAR by ALFRED TENNYSON EDWIN MORRIS; OR, THE LAKE by ALFRED TENNYSON ENGLAND AND AMERICA IN 1782 by ALFRED TENNYSON |
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