The Lily of St Leonards
The Lily of St Leonards - meaning Summary
Regret After a Voyage
The poem recounts a narrator’s regret after a self-destructive journey that ruined his life and cost him the love of Lily of St Leonards. He remembers her purity and warmth, learns she died with loving words three days before his return, and now sees his world as bleak—lead-grey sky and sea—while mourning lost opportunity, exile, and the laurels of youth turned to ruin. It frames personal loss as lasting exile.
Read Complete Analyses’tis sunrise over Watson, Where I sailed out to sea, On that wild run to London That wrecked and ruined me. The beauty of the morning On bluff and point and bay, But the Lily of St Leonards Was fairer than the day. O Lily of St Leonards! And I was mad to roam She died with loving words for me Three days ere I came home. As fair as lily whiteness, As pure as lily gold, And bright with childlike brightness And wise as worlds of old. Her heart for all was beating And all hearts were her own Like sunshine through the Lily Her purity was shown. O Lily of St Leonards! My night is on the track, ’Tis well you never lived to see The wreck that I came back. A leaden sky shuts over A sobbing leaden sea, For the Lily of St Leonards Is never more for me. I seek the wharf of Outward Where the deck no longer thrills Where she stood with great tears starting Like the lights on dark wet hills. The world was all before me The laurels on my brow ’Twas the world-star of the rovers, ’Tis the Star of Exile now.
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