Gigantic daughter of the West, We drink to thee across the flood,
We know thee most, we love thee best, For art thou not of British blood?
‘Hands all Round’ (1852) st. 4
Speak to Him thou for He hears, and Spirit with Spirit can meet— Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.
‘The Higher Pantheism’ (1869)
Wearing the white flower of a blameless life, Before a thousand peering littlenesses,
In that fierce light which beats upon a throne, And blackens every blot.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) Dedication (1862) l. 24
Man’s word is God in man.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Coming of Arthur’ (1869) l. 132
Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Coming of Arthur’ (1869) l. 284; ‘The Passing of Arthur’ (1869) l. 199
Rain, rain, and sun! a rainbow in the sky! A young man will be wiser by and by; An old man’s wit may wander ere he die.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Coming of Arthur’ (1869) l. 402
From the great deep to the great deep he goes.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Coming of Arthur’ (1869) l. 410
Blow trumpet, for the world is white with May.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Coming of Arthur’ (1869) l. 481
Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King— Else, wherefore born?
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘Gareth and Lynette’ (1872) l. 117
The city is built
To music, therefore never built at all, And therefore built for ever.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘Gareth and Lynette’ (1872) l. 272
To reverence the King, as if he were
Their conscience, and their conscience as their King, To break the heathen and uphold the Christ,
To ride abroad redressing human wrongs, To speak no slander, no, nor listen to it, To honour his own word as if his God’s.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘Guinevere’ (1859) l. 465
To love one maiden only, cleave to her, And worship her by years of noble deeds, Until they won her; for indeed I knew Of no more subtle master under heaven Than is the maiden passion for a maid, Not only to keep down the base in man,
But teach high thought, and amiable words And courtliness, and the desire of fame, And love of truth, and all that makes a man.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘Guinevere’ (1859) l. 472
I thought I could not breathe in that fine air That pure severity of perfect light—
I yearned for warmth and colour which I found In Lancelot.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘Guinevere’ (1859) l. 640
It was my duty to have loved the highest: It surely was my profit had I known:
It would have been my pleasure had I seen. We needs must love the highest when we see it, Not Lancelot, nor another.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘Guinevere’ (1859) l. 652
For good ye are and bad, and like to coins, Some true, some light, but every one of you Stamped with the image of the King.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Holy Grail’ (1869) l. 25
I will be deafer than the blue-eyed cat, And thrice as blind as any noonday owl, To holy virgins in their ecstasies, Henceforward.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Holy Grail’ (1869) l. 862
Elaine the fair, Elaine the loveable, Elaine, the lily maid of Astolat.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘Lancelot and Elaine’ (1859) l. 1
He is all fault who hath no fault at all:
For who loves me must have a touch of earth.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘Lancelot and Elaine’ (1859) l. 132
In me there dwells
No greatness, save it be some far-off touch Of greatness to know well I am not great.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘Lancelot and Elaine’ (1859) l. 447
I know not if I know what true love is, But if I know, then, if I love not him, I know there is none other I can love.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘Lancelot and Elaine’ (1859) l. 672
The shackles of an old love straitened him, His honour rooted in dishonour stood, And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘Lancelot and Elaine’ (1859) l. 870
Never yet
Was noble man but made ignoble talk.
He makes no friend who never made a foe.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘Lancelot and Elaine’ (1859) l. 1080
The dirty nurse, Experience, in her kind Hath fouled me.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Last Tournament’ (1859) l. 317
The greater man, the greater courtesy.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Last Tournament’ (1859) l. 628
Our hoard is little, but our hearts are great.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Marriage of Geraint’ (1859) l. 352
For man is man and master of his fate.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Marriage of Geraint’ (1859) l. 355
They take the rustic murmur of their bourg
For the great wave that echoes round the world.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Marriage of Geraint’ (1859) l. 419
It is the little rift within the lute,
That by and by will make the music mute, And ever widening slowly silence all.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘Merlin and Vivien’ (1859) l. 388
And trust me not at all or all in all.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘Merlin and Vivien’ (1859) l. 396
Man dreams of fame while woman wakes to love.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘Merlin and Vivien’ (1859) l. 458
With this for motto, ‘Rather use than fame.’
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘Merlin and Vivien’ (1859) l. 478
Where blind and naked Ignorance Delivers brawling judgements, unashamed, On all things all day long.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘Merlin and Vivien’ (1859) l. 662
But every page having an ample marge,
And every marge enclosing in the midst A square of text that looks a little blot.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘Merlin and Vivien’ (1859) l. 667
And none can read the text, not even I; And none can read the comment but myself.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘Merlin and Vivien’ (1859) l. 679
I found Him in the shining of the stars,
I marked Him in the flowering of His fields, But in His ways with men I find Him not.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Passing of Arthur’ (1869) l. 9
So all day long the noise of battle rolled Among the mountains by the winter sea.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Passing of Arthur’ (1869) l. 170
On one side lay the Ocean, and on one Lay a great water, and the moon was full.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Passing of Arthur’ (1869) l. 179
Authority forgets a dying king.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Passing of Arthur’ (1869) l. 289
Clothed with his breath, and looking, as he walked, Larger than human on the frozen hills.
He heard the deep behind him, and a cry Before.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Passing of Arthur’ (1869) l. 350
And the days darken round me, and the years, Among new men, strange faces, other minds.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Passing of Arthur’ (1869) l. 405
The old order changeth, yielding place to new, And God fulfils himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Passing of Arthur’ (1869) l. 408
If thou shouldst never see my face again,
Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice Rise like a fountain for me night and day.
For what are men better than sheep or goats That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friend? For so the whole round earth is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Passing of Arthur’ (1869) l. 414
I am going a long way
With these thou seëst—if indeed I go
(For all my mind is clouded with a doubt)— To the island-valley of Avilion;
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow, Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies
Deep-meadowed, happy, fair with orchard lawns And bowery hollows crowned with summer sea, Where I will heal me of my grievous wound.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Passing of Arthur’ (1869) l. 424
Like some full-breasted swan That, fluting a wild carol ere her death,
Ruffles her pure cold plume, and takes the flood With swarthy webs.
‘Idylls of the King’ (1842-85) ‘The Passing of Arthur’ (1869) l. 434
Thou madest man, he knows not why, He thinks he was not made to die; And thou hast made him: thou art just.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) prologue
Our little systems have their day; They have their day and cease to be: They are but broken lights of thee, And thou, O Lord, art more than they.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) prologue
Let knowledge grow from more to more, But more of reverence in us dwell;
That mind and soul, according well, May make one music as before.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) prologue
I held it truth, with him who sings To one clear harp in divers tones, That men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 1
For words, like Nature, half reveal And half conceal the Soul within.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 5
But, for the unquiet heart and brain, A use in measured language lies;
The sad mechanic exercise,
Like dull narcotics, numbing pain.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 5
And common is the commonplace, And vacant chaff well meant for grain.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 6
Never morning wore
To evening, but some heart did break.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 6
His heavy-shotted hammock-shroud Drops in his vast and wandering grave.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 6
Dark house, by which once more I stand Here in the long unlovely street,
Doors, where my heart was used to beat So quickly, waiting for a hand.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 7
And ghastly through the drizzling rain On the bald street breaks the blank day.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 7
The last red leaf is whirled away, The rooks are blown about the skies.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 15
There twice a day the Severn fills; The salt sea-water passes by,
And hushes half the babbling Wye, And makes a silence in the hills.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 19
The Shadow cloaked from head to foot, Who keeps the keys of all the creeds.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 23
And Thought leapt out to wed with Thought Ere Thought could wed itself with Speech.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 23
I envy not in any moods
The captive void of noble rage, The linnet born within the cage,
That never knew the summer woods.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 27
’Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 27.
A solemn gladness even crowned The purple brows of Olivet.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 31
Her eyes are homes of silent prayer.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 32
Short swallow-flights of song, that dip Their wings in tears, and skim away.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 48
Be near me when my light is low,
When the blood creeps, and the nerves prick And tingle; and the heart is sick,
And all the wheels of Being slow.
Be near me when the sensuous frame Is racked with pains that conquer trust; And Time, a maniac scattering dust,
And Life, a Fury slinging flame.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 50
Oh yet we trust that somehow good Will be the final goal of ill.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 54
That nothing walks with aimless feet; That not one life shall be destroyed, Or cast as rubbish to the void,
When God hath made the pile complete.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 54
Behold, we know not anything; I can but trust that good shall fall At last—far off—at last, to all,
And every winter change to spring.
So runs my dream: but what am I? An infant crying in the night:
An infant crying for the light:
And with no language but a cry.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 54
So careful of the type she seems, So careless of the single life.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 55 (of Nature)
The great world’s altar-stairs
That slope through darkness up to God.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 55
Man...
Who trusted God was love indeed And love Creation’s final law— Though Nature, red in tooth and claw With ravine, shrieked against his creed.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 56
Peace; come away: the song of woe Is after all an earthly song:
Peace; come away: we do him wrong To sing so wildly: let us go.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 57
O Sorrow, wilt thou live with me No casual mistress, but a wife.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 59
As some divinely gifted man, Whose life in low estate began And on a simple village green;
Who breaks his birth’s invidious bar, And grasps the skirts of happy chance, And breasts the blows of circumstance,
And grapples with his evil star.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 64
So many worlds, so much to do, So little done, such things to be.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 73
Death has made
His darkness beautiful with thee.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 74
And round thee with the breeze of song To stir a little dust of praise.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 75
O last regret, regret can die!
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 78
Laburnums, dropping-wells of fire.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 83
God’s finger touched him, and he slept.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 85
He brought an eye for all he saw; He mixed in all our simple sports;
They pleased him, fresh from brawling courts And dusty purlieus of the law.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 89.
You tell me, doubt is Devil-born.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 96
There lives more faith in honest doubt, Believe me, than in half the creeds.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 96
Their meetings made December June, Their every parting was to die.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 97
He seems so near and yet so far.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 97
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 106
Ring out the want, the care, the sin, The faithless coldness of the times; Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes, But ring the fuller minstrel in.
Ring out false pride in place and blood, The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right, Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease; Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace.
Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the kindlier hand; Ring out the darkness of the land;
Ring in the Christ that is to be.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 106
Not the schoolboy heat, The blind hysterics of the Celt.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 109
Now fades the last long streak of snow, Now burgeons every maze of quick About the flowering squares, and thick By ashen roots the violets blow.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 115
And drowned in yonder living blue The lark becomes a sightless song.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 115
There, where the long street roars, hath been The stillness of the central sea.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 123
And thou art worthy; full of power; As gentle; liberal-minded, great, Consistent; wearing all that weight Of learning lightly like a flower.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 131, st. 13
One God, one law, one element, And one far-off divine event,
To which the whole creation moves.
‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’ (1850) canto 131, closing lines
The voice of the dead was a living voice to me.
‘In the Valley of Cauteretz’ (1864)
Below the thunders of the upper deep; Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea, His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep The Kraken sleepeth.
‘The Kraken’ (1830)
There hath he lain for ages and will lie Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep, Until the latter fire shall heat the deep.
‘The Kraken’ (1830)
At me you smiled, but unbeguiled I saw the snare, and I retired: The daughter of a hundred Earls, You are not one to be desired.
