Alfred Lord Tennyson

Move eastward, happy earth...

Move eastward, happy earth... - meaning Summary

Motion Toward Union

The speaker addresses the earth as a companion and urges it to move eastward so the moon will rise sooner. That motion will light the beloved’s eyes in the glen, letting the moon "glass herself" there and enable the speaker’s desired wedding morning. The poem frames longing as temporal and planetary movement, linking cosmic cycles to an intimate wish for union and the turning of night into celebration.

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Move eastward, happy earth, and leave Yon orange sunset waning slow: From fringes of the faded eve, O, happy planet, eastward go; Till over thy dark shoulder glow Thy silver sister-world, and rise To glass herself in dewy eyes That watch me from the glen below. Ah, bear me with thee, smoothly borne, Dip forward under starry light, And move me to my marriage-morn, And round again to happy night.

First published in 1842.
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