The splendour falls on castle walls And snowy summits old in story;The long light shakes across the lakes, And the wild cataract leaps in glory.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying;Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.
Oh hark! oh hear! how thin and clear, And thinner, clearer, farther going!
Oh sweet and far, from cliff and scar,
The horns of Elfland faintly blowing!
Blow; let us hear the purple glens replying; Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.
O love, they die in yon rich sky,
They faint on hill or field or river;
Our echoes roll from soul to soul, And grow for ever and for ever.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying.
Tennyson.
Author.-Alfred Tennyson(1819-92), was born in England, andcompleted his education at Cambridge. He practised verse-making from his early years, and spent his life at it. He was appointed Poet-Laureate in 1850 and made a Lord in 1884. His poems to a considerable extent embody the philosophic and religious thought of his time. His principal poems are-The Princess, In Memoriam, Idylls of the King, and a number of well-known shorter lyrics.
General Notes.-Tennyson was being rowed over the Lakes ofKillarney in Ireland when, at a point in the route, the boatman gave some bugle-calls. The echoing notes and the delightful surroundings suggested the lyric, which he inserted in a long poem " The Princess. " Have you ever heard " the horns ot Elfland faintly blowing " ? Note how artistically the three stanzas describe (1) the scene, (2) the bugle call, (3) the dying echoes.