Victorians! discussion

Here's a seasonal excerpt from the long and wonderful elegy, In Memoriam:
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

Natalie

What a perfect way to greet the season and the coming year.

"Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good"

Still true, still hopeful... thank you

Peter

A wonderful poem in its entirety. If we were allowed to nominate epic poems for group reads here, I would probably nominate it some day!

Everyman wrote: "A wonderful poem in its entirety. If we were allowed to nominate epic poems for group reads here, I would probably nominate it some day!"

Yes. ... perhaps someday. ;-))

Peter wrote: "Natalie

What a perfect way to greet the season and the coming year.

"Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good"

I agree, this is perfect :)

I love "In Memoriam" and I think it is very readable and not too difficult at all. It's a stirring story of loss, doubt, faith, redemption, and change and it can also be very beautiful in its language and ideas.

Remember: Queen Victoria slept with it at her bedside after she lost Prince Albert.

Natalie wrote: "I love "In Memoriam" and I think it is very readable and not too difficult at all. It's a stirring story of loss, doubt, faith, redemption, and change and it can also be very beautiful in its langu..."

Natalie

If the poem was good enough for Queen Victoria it is certainly good enough for me.

It would be wonderful to meander through "In Memoriam." Good for you to start up the poetry once again. I will join in on the other thread later today.

What a lovely excerpt to read at this time of year. I agree, I would be interested in a read of the full poem at some time.

Such a lovely kick-off. I am going to send a group message so all Victorians know it is here!

Hi, I'm a new member and haven't posted before. I always feel that poetry is a real weak point for me (lack of knowledge not necessarily enthusiasm) but I thought this extract was wonderful. If the group does study the poem in full I would like to join in.

Welcome Linda! Glad you found us. I am totally poetically challenged, but think I could learn something here, too!

So beautiful and hopeful. I suppose it is a prayer, really. Much needed by the world now.

I have an edition of Tennyson, Selected Poetry, with an introduction by Marshall McLuhan. I can't find a link in Goodreads, probably because it was published in 1956. It was part of my first year English in 1965, and is full of my notes in a very different hand than I write now. I would definitely be interested in reading this with the group.

Thanks for the suggestion! Input anyone?

I don't know if the idea has developed elsewhere but I love the idea of reading long poems together has a group.

This is such a moving work, you can feel grief throughout it, and it also contains the famous lines:

“I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.”

Having suffered a family bereavement recently it feels so apt.

Clari wrote: "I don't know if the idea has developed elsewhere but I love the idea of reading long poems together has a group.

This is such a moving work, you can feel grief throughout it, and it also contains..."

Clari

I am sorry to read of your recent loss. My thoughts are with you, my friend.

Poetry is the place I have turned to as well when I needed a special voice to talk to me. We are never alone.

Clari, please accept my sincere condolences. Queen Victoria kept a copy of _In Memoriam_ by her bedside (along with the Bible) after the death of Prince Albert.

There is indeed a plan to do a full reading of _In Memoriam_. I think that Jonathan may have posted about it already.

Natalie wrote: "Clari, please accept my sincere condolences. Queen Victoria kept a copy of _In Memoriam_ by her bedside (along with the Bible) after the death of Prince Albert.

There is indeed a plan to do a ful..."

Thank you for your thoughts. I find art in all its creative forms of literature and painting and music is the greatest consoler we have a society.

There are plans brewing to study this poem in its entirety. Please feel welcome to continue this discussion there. I know others would love to hear your thoughts.