Download Tears, Idle Tears

*
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Kristina Kim, Sophie Lee
*
•Born in August 6th, 1809, as a fourth
child of twelve children.
•His poems were once harshly criticized,
so it kept him from publishing again for
another nine years.
•He was at first not well off, but the
success of some poems such as "The
Princess" and ’In Memoriam’ established
him as the most popular poet of the
Victorian era.
•Suffered from extreme bad eyesight,
which gave him difficulty writing and
reading and creating poetry.
Tears, 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-awakened 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 remembered kisses after death,
And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned
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.
*
*Aging
*Acceptance of human mortality
*Regret
Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean,
Idle: Baseless, ineffective, useless
-implying that his tears are pointless as it won’t help
bring things back (the things that he is mourning for)
Tears from the depth of some divine despair
Divine despair: Paradox as divine means God-like,
whereas despair is a sin in Christianity.
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes,
Shows that his feelings are
genuine and sincere
Direct imagery of tears
-implies that the tears
are a symbol for sincerity.
In looking on the happy Autumn-fields,
Looking->Thinking:
Autumn: a Reveals
season where
that the
summer
tears are
andderived
spring from
Insinuates that the poet hopefully thinks back to the memories and expresses them as if they are still
have gone
and
memories
havea sorrowful
only a cold
winter to
tangible, then he moves on to saying ‘Thinking’
which
shows
acceptance
as look
he realises that
forward
to
Paradox,
because
the
‘happy’
things
are the
time cannot be reversed (Theme. Acceptance of hauman cycle of life and death)
cause of the poet’s ‘tears.’
And thinking of the days that are no more.
Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail,
Memory of birth of friendshipPositive imagery.
That brings our friends up from the underworld,
Greek Mythology- Death(image of boat man
Charon, who ferries the dead to Hades)
Sad as the last which reddens over one
Reddens: Blood. Sinks..verge: Imagery of the blood and body
sinking/ returning back into the ground as dirt
and dust.
That sinks with all we love below the verge;
So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more.
Parallel ending: Continuous idea.
As if the poet is accepting the mortality of
humans and the uncontrollable presence of
time, but the fact is daunting him-emphasizes
his grief.
THEME: AGING
Ah, sad and strange as in dark summer dawns
Creates a fading out
image- implies ‘aging’
The earliest pipe of half-awakened birds
enjambment :creates a connection to the next
line “To dying ears.” The theme of ‘Aging’ is
insinuated through this image.
To dying ears, when unto dying eyes
enjambment : to create connection
The casement slowly grows a glimmering square;
So sad, so strange, the days that are no more.
Sad, but strange as he
accepts that aging and
death is a natural
process of life
LINE12:
implies
hearing
has
The
connection
to thethat
dyingtheir
eyes implies
that
thegone
“casement”
andaging,
“glimmering
square” is athey
metaphor
for
worse with
and therefore
cannot
glasses.
Thisbirds
indicates
the gradual
processso
of it
agingWorse
hear the
chirping
properly,
sounds
eyesight=thicker lenses. The poet is expressing this ‘aging’
like “half
awakened
process
as a natural
part ofbirds.”
life and reality.
Dear as remembered kisses after death,
Highly priced; precious
And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned
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.
In: Accepting that
death is part of life
Regret for not making most of
life(As he realises how precious
the time/memories were as he is
reminiscing
Deep: Links back to ‘Depth..divine despair’
in stanza1. This ‘Depth’ in Stanza1 was the
source of tears.
*
*Unrhymed iambic pentameter
*Consists of four five-line stanzas, each of which closes
with the words “the days that are no more.
*Does not rhyme because it is not a specific emotion
with dear boundaries-
(It is about a great idea of sorrow and grief and regret
that is continuous and does not exist as a single,
organised feeling.)
*Lack of rhyme shows unorganised and jumbled ideas
*Not set to “sound pleasing”
*
*Because I could not stop for death –Emily Dickinson
*One Art –Elizabeth Bishop
*Elegy for my father’s father –James K. Baxter