RPO -- Alfred Lord Tennyson : The Princess: Home they Brought her Warrior Dead

Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

The Princess: Home they Brought her Warrior Dead

1Home they brought her warrior dead:

2 She nor swoon'd nor utter'd cry:

3All her maidens, watching, said,

4 "She must weep or she will die."

5Then they praised him, soft and low,

6 Call'd him worthy to be loved,

7Truest friend and noblest foe;

8 Yet she neither spoke nor moved.

9Stole a maiden from her place,

10 Lightly to the warrior stepped,

11Took the face-cloth from the face;

12 Yet she neither moved nor wept.

13Rose a nurse of ninety years,

14 Set his child upon her knee--

15Like summer tempest came her tears--

16 "Sweet my child, I live for thee."

Notes

1] The Princess: A Medley, published 1847. The first edition contained only four of the lyrics: "Tears, idle tears," "O Swallow Swallow," "Now sleeps the crimson petal," and "Come down, O maid." This poem was added in the edition of 1850.

Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.

Original text: Alfred lord Tennyson, The Princess: A Medley, 3rd edn. (London: E. Moxen, 1850). tenn T366 P756 1850 Fisher Rare Book Library (Toronto). Alfred lord Tennyson, Works (London: Macmillan, 1891). tenn T366 A1 1891a Fisher Rare Book Library (Toronto).
First publication date: 1850
RPO poem editor: H. M. McLuhan
RP edition: 3RP 3.58.
Recent editing: 2:2002/2/14

Rhyme: abab

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