The Splendor Falls

I subscribe to a "Poem of the Day" email. Today's was "The Splendor Falls" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. I've been reading and re-reading the poem for about two hours, trying to soak it all in. (It's from "The Princess," if you're a Tennyson fan.) Lamentably, I know very little about Tennyson and his work. I have some thoughts on this, but other than the obvious (death, what comes after), I have nothing worth sharing on what the poem might mean, or what the author might be trying to say.

But that's okay. Poetry doesn't always have to be explained. Sometimes you just take it in and enjoy. Hopefully you will, as well.




The Splendor Falls
Lord Tennyson


The splendor 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.

O, hark, O, hear! how thin and clear,
And thinner, clearer, farther going!
O, 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.