Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 108, by ALFRED TENNYSON


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IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 108, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I will not shut me from my kind
Last Line: Whatever wisdom sleep with thee.
Alternate Author Name(s): Tennyson, Lord Alfred; Tennyson, 1st Baron; Tennyson Of Aldworth And Farringford, Baron
Subject(s): Hallam, Arthur Henry (1811-1833); Death; Mourning; Friendship


I will not shut me from my kind,
And, lest I stiffen into stone,
I will not eat my heart alone,
Nor feed with sighs a passing wind:

What profit lies in barren faith,
And vacant yearning, tho' with might
To scale the heaven's highest height,
Or dive below the wells of death?

What find I in the highest place,
But mine own phantom chanting hymns?
And on the depths of death there swims
The reflex of a human face.

I'll rather take what fruit may be
Of sorrow under human skies:
'T is held that sorrow makes us wise,
Whatever wisdom sleep with thee.





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