[8] 1830 and 1842. Thee.
[9] 1830. Methinks were, so till 1850, when it was altered to the present reading.
[10] The cottage at Maplethorpe where the Tennysons used to spend the summer holidays. (See Life, i., 46.)
[11] 1830. Emblems or Glimpses of Eternity.
[12] 1830. Pleached. The whole of this passage is an exact description of the Parsonage garden at Somersby. See Life, i., 27.
Song
First printed in 1830.
The poem was written in the garden at the Old Rectory, Somersby; an autumn scene there which it faithfully describes. This poem seems to have haunted Poe, a fervent admirer of Tennyson’s early poems.
1
A Spirit haunts the year’s last hours
Dwelling amid these yellowing bowers:
To himself he talks;
For at eventide, listening earnestly,
At his work you may hear him sob and sigh
In the walks;
Earthward he boweth the heavy stalks
Of the mouldering flowers:
Heavily hangs the broad sunflower
Over its grave i’ the earth so chilly;
Heavily hangs the hollyhock,
Heavily hangs the tiger-lily.