A wonderful poem for All Saints' Day! It expresses what most true saints probably would say is the most we can hope for in life: to be guided gently into the next.
Poets ALWAYS know which works of theirs should go where. I'm not surprised that Tennyson wanted this one last. It reminds me of Herbert's "Love (III)" in that regard--placed last because it sums up the core of the whole work before it, and is the point the whole work has been building toward: the consummation of the human life.
A wonderful poem for All Saints' Day! It expresses what most true saints probably would say is the most we can hope for in life: to be guided gently into the next.
Poets ALWAYS know which works of theirs should go where. I'm not surprised that Tennyson wanted this one last. It reminds me of Herbert's "Love (III)" in that regard--placed last because it sums up the core of the whole work before it, and is the point the whole work has been building toward: the consummation of the human life.
Tennyson is a giant of English poetry; and it's very edifying to know how stalwart he was in the faith. God rest his soul.