Modern Love XXIII: 'Tis Christmas Weather

George Meredith 1828 (Portsmouth, Hampshire) – 1909 (Box Hill, Surrey)



'Tis Christmas weather, and a country house
Receives us: rooms are full: we can but get
An attic-crib. Such lovers will not fret
At that, it is half-said. The great carouse
Knocks hard upon the midnight's hollow door,
But when I knock at hers, I see the pit.
Why did I come here in that dullard fit?
I enter, and lie couched upon the floor.
Passing, I caught the coverlet's quick beat:--
Come, Shame, burn to my soul! and Pride, and Pain--
Foul demons that have tortured me, enchain!
Out in the freezing darkness the lambs bleat.
The small bird stiffens in the low starlight.
I know not how, but shuddering as I slept,
I dreamed a banished angel to me crept:
My feet were nourished on her breasts all night.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

40 sec read
49

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBCDEEDFGGBHIIH
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 715
Words 134
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16

George Meredith

George Meredith was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times. more…

All George Meredith poems | George Meredith Books

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    I wandered lonely as a _______ that floats on high o'er vales and hills
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