Tears, idle tears...
FROM THE PRINCESS
Tears, idle tears... - context Summary
Published in 1847
“Tears, idle tears” appears in Tennyson’s 1847 narrative collection The Princess. The poem distills recurring themes in his work: the ache of nostalgia, the passage of time, and mourning for irretrievable days. Its voice registers a private, existential sorrow triggered by ordinary scenes—autumn fields, dawning light—that become reminders of loss. The poem functions as a lyrical meditation within the larger, socially themed book.
Read Complete AnalysesTears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, Tears from the depth of some divine despair Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, In looking on the happy Autumn-fields, And thinking of the days that are no more. Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail, That brings our friends up from the underworld, Sad as the last which reddens over one That sinks with all we love below the verge; So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more. Ah, sad and strange as in dark summer dawns The earliest pipe of half-awaken'd birds To dying ears, when unto dying eyes The casement slowly grows a glimmering square; So sad, so strange, the days that are no more. Dear as remember'd kisses after death, And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feign'd On lips that are for others; deep as love, Deep as first love, and wild with all regret; O Death in Life, the days that are no more.
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