Had she a sister?

Had she a brother?

40 Or was there a dearer one

Still, and a nearer one

Yet, than all other?

Alas! for the rarity
Of Christian charity
45 Under the sun!
Oh! it was pitiful!
Near a whole city full,
Home she had none.

Sisterly, brotherly,
50 Fatherly, motherly,
Feelings had changed;
Love, by harsh evidence,
Thrown from its eminence;

Even God's providence

55 Seeming estranged.

Where the lamps quiver

So far in the river,

With many a light

From window and casement,

60 From garret to basement, She stood, with amazement, Houseless by night.

The bleak wind of March
Made her tremble and shiver;

65 But not the dark arch,

Or the black flowing river ;

95 Perishing gloomily,

Spurred by contumely,

Cold inhumanity,

Burning insanity,

Into her rest,

100 Cross her hands humbly,
As if praying dumbly,

Over her breast!

Owning her weakness,

Her evil behaviour,

105 And leaving, with meekness,

Her sins to her Saviour!

This poem is the first picture of a "man-stifled town" in English poetry since "The Rape of the Lock," "The Deserted Village," and "The Task." It is an analysis of the dissolute in London of 1844, of which Shelley in "Peter Bell The Third " had earlier written :

"Hell is a city much like London

A populous and a smoky city;
There are all sorts of people undone,
And there is little or no fun done;

Small justice shown, and still less pity."

Scan (43-48) (56-62). For a similar dark picture of New York life in ante-bellum days read "Unseen Spirits," by N. P. Willis.

IT WAS THE TIME OF ROSES

It was not in the winter

Our loving lot was cast;

It was the time of roses,
We pluck'd them as we pass'd.

5 That churlish season never frown'd
On early lovers yet:

Oh! no - the world was newly crown'd

With flowers when first we met!

'Twas twilight, and I bade you go, 10 But still you held me fast;

It was the time of roses,

We pluck'd them as we pass'd.

What else could peer thy glowing cheek,
That tears began to stud?

15 And when I ask'd the like of Love,
You snatch'd a damask bud;

And op'd it to the dainty core,
Still glowing to the last.

It was the time of roses,

20 We pluck'd them as we pass'd.

The Victorian Era

1832-1900

THE NEO-ROMANTIC SCHOOL OF SCIENTIFIC, RELIGIOUS, SOCIALISTIC, AND IMPERIALISTIC CONTROVERSY.

ALFRED TENNYSON

1809-1892

With regard to this particular and very critical gift (felicity of using nature in every way by means of the finest metaphors and similes), it seems to us that he may challenge comparison with almost any poet, either of ancient or modern times.-W. E. Gladstone.

The Poet.

Enone.

Optional Poems

The Death Of Enone.

The Palace Of Art.

The May Queen.

The Lotos-Eaters.

A Dream Of Fair Women.

Locksley Hall.

Locksley Hall Sixty Years After.

St. Agnes' Eve.

Sir Galahad.

Sir Launcelot And Queen Guinevere.

Enoch Arden.

The Brook.

Ode On The Death Of The Duke Of Wellington.

The Charge Of The Light Brigade.

The Grandmother.

In Memoriam.