Claribel (poem)

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Claribel
by Alfred Tennyson
Genre(s) Romanticism
Meter Iambic trimeter
Rhyme scheme Irregular
Publication date
  • 1830
  • 1842
  • 1851
Lines21
Full text
Wikisource-logo.svg Poems (Tennyson, 1843)/Volume 1/Claribel at Wikisource

"Claribel: A Melody" is an early poem by Alfred Tennyson, first published in 1830. [1]

Contents

Text

Illustration for Tennyson's "Claribel", engraved by T. Williams after Thomas Creswick, 1857 Illustration for Tennyson's 'Claribel'.jpg
Illustration for Tennyson's "Claribel", engraved by T. Williams after Thomas Creswick, 1857

In the 1830 and 1842 editions the poem is in one long stanza, with a full stop in the 1830 edition after line 8; the 1842 edition omits the full stop. [1] The name "Claribel" may have been suggested by Spenser, [2] or Shakespeare. [3] [1]

Where Claribel low-lieth
  The breezes pause and die,
    Letting the rose-leaves fall:
But the solemn oak-tree sigheth,
    Thick-leaved, ambrosial,
  With an ancient melody
  Of an inward agony,
Where Claribel low-lieth.

At eve the beetle boometh
  Athwart the thicket lone:
At noon the wild bee [lower-alpha 1] hummeth
  About the moss’d headstone:
At midnight the moon cometh,
  And looketh down alone.
Her song the lintwhite swelleth,
The clear-voiced mavis dwelleth,
  The callow throstle [lower-alpha 2] lispeth,
The slumbrous wave outwelleth,
  The babbling runnel crispeth,
The hollow grot replieth
Where Claribel low-lieth.

Notes

  1. 1830. "Wild" omitted, and "low" inserted with a hyphen before "hummeth".
  2. 1851 and all previous editions, "fledgling" for "callow".

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Collins, ed. 1900, p. 2.
  2. The bride of Phaon in The Faerie Queene , ii., iv.
  3. Claribel, daughter of Alonso, wife to the King of Tunis in the backstory of The Tempest .

Sources

Further reading