3 What can it matter, Margaret, What songs below the waning stars Sang looking thro' his prison bars? 4 A fairy shield your Genius made And gave you on your natal day. Than your twin-sister, Adeline. Your hair is darker, and your eyes Touch'd with a somewhat darker hue, But ever trembling thro' the dew 3 Of dainty-woeful sympathies. 5 O sweet pale Margaret, O rare pale Margaret, Come down, come down, and hear me speak: The sun is just about to set. 11833- Lion-souled Plantagenet. For songs supposed to have been composed by Richard I. during the time of his captivity see Sismondi, Litttrature an Midi de l'Europe, vol. i., p. 149, and La Tour Ténébreusc (1705), which contains a poem said to have been written by Richard and Blondel in mixed Romance and Provencal, and a love-song in Norman French, which have frequently been reprinted. See, too, Burney's Hist, of Music, vol. ii., p. 238, and Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors, sub.-tit. "Richard I.," and the fourth volume of Reynouard's Choix des Potsies des Troubadours. All these poems are probably spurious. 2 Chatelet was a poet-squire in the suite of the Marshal Damville, who was executed for a supposed intrigue with Mary Queen of Scots. See Tytler, History of Scotland, vi., p. 319, and Mr. Swinburne's tragedy. The arching lines are tall and shady, Or only look across the lawn, Look out below your bower-eaves, THE BLACKBIRD. Not in 1833. This is another poem placed among the poems of 1833, but not printed till 1843. O Blackbird! sing me something well: The espaliers and the standards all Are thine; the range of lawn and park: Yet, tho' I spared thee all the spring,2 A golden bill! the silver tongue, That made thee famous once, when young: 11833. Jasmin-leaves. 21842. Yet, though I spared thee kith and kin. And so till 1853, when it was altered to the present reading. 31843 to 1851. Jennetin, altered in 1853 to present reading. And in the sultry garden-squares,1 Now thy flute-notes are changed to coarse, Take warning! he that will not sing THE DEATH OF THE OLD YEAR First printed in 1833. Only one alteration has been made in this poem, in line 41, where in 1843 "one was altered to "twelve ". Full knee-deep lies the winter snow, And the winter winds are wearily sighing: And tread softly and speak low, For the old year lies a-dying. Old year, you must not die; He lieth still: he doth not move : He hath no other life above. He gave me a friend, and a true, true-love, Old year, you must not go; So long as you have been with us, Old year, you shall not go. 11843. I better brook the drawling stares. Altered, 1843. 21842. Not bearing thee at all. Altered, 1843. He froth'd his bumpers to the brim ; Old year, you shall not die; He was full of joke and jest, His son and heir doth ride post-haste, Every one for his own. The night is starry and cold, my friend, And the New-year blithe and bold, my friend, How hard he breathes! over the snow The cricket chirps: the light burns low: Shake hands, before you die. His face is growing sharp and thin. Close up his eyes: tie up his chin: you: Step from the corpse, and let him in That standeth there alone, And waiteth at the door. There's a new foot on the floor, my friend, And a new face at the door, my friend, 11833. One. TO J. S. First published in 1833. This beautiful poem was addressed to James Spedding on the death of his brother Edward. The wind, that beats the mountain, blows And me this knowledge bolder made, 'Tis strange that those we lean on most, Those we love first are taken first. God gives us love. Something to love This is the curse of time. Alas! In grief I am not all unlearn'd; Once thro' mine own doors Death did pass; 3 He will not smile—nor speak to me Without whose life I had not been. 1 Possibly suggested by Tasso, Gents., lib. xx.. St. Iviii. :— Qual vento a cui s" oppone o selva o colic Doppia nella cpntesa i soffi e 1' ira; Ma con fiato piu placido e più molle 2 1833. My heart this knowledge bolder made, Altered in 1843. 3 Tennyson's father died in March, 1831. |