Maud - Part 1 - 8.
Maud - Part 1 - 8. - context Summary
Published in 1855
This excerpt presents the narrator's first charged encounter with Maud in a village church. He watches her seated by a pillar; a carved angel and urn evoke mourning. A single shared glance ignites sudden physical and emotional intensity: his heart races, the priest's ritual fades, and he questions whether pride or genuine feeling motivates him. The passage opens themes of love, grief, and unstable perception central to the longer poem.
Read Complete AnalysesShe came to the village church, And sat by a pillar alone; An angel watching an urn Wept over her, carved in stone; And once, but once, she lifted her eyes, And suddenly, sweetly, strangely blush'd To find they were met by my own; And suddenly, sweetly, my heart beat stronger And thicker, until I heard no longer The snowy-banded, dilettante, Delicate-handed priest intone; And thought, is it pride, and mused and sigh'd 'No surely, now it cannot be pride.'
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