Claribel (poem)

Illustration for Tennyson's "Claribel", engraved by T. Williams after Thomas Creswick, 1857

In the 1830 and 1842 editions the poem is in one long stanza, with a full stop in the 1830 edition after line 8; the 1842 edition omits the full stop.[1] The name "Claribel" may have been suggested by Spenser,[2] or Shakespeare.[3][1]

Where Claribel low-lieth
  The breezes pause and die,
    Letting the rose-leaves fall:
But the solemn oak-tree sigheth,
    Thick-leaved, ambrosial,
  With an ancient melody
  Of an inward agony,
Where Claribel low-lieth.

At eve the beetle boometh
  Athwart the thicket lone:
At noon the wild bee[lower-alpha 1] hummeth
  About the moss’d headstone:
At midnight the moon cometh,
  And looketh down alone.
Her song the lintwhite swelleth,
The clear-voiced mavis dwelleth,
  The callow throstle[lower-alpha 2] lispeth,
The slumbrous wave outwelleth,
  The babbling runnel crispeth,
The hollow grot replieth
Where Claribel low-lieth.

• Collins, John Churton, ed. (1900). The Early Poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. London: Methuen & Co. pp. 2–3. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

• Duncan-Jones, Katherine (1971). "A Note on Tennyson's "Claribel"". Victorian Poetry. 9: 348–350.

• Robins, J. D. (ed.). "Claribel". Representative Poetry Online. University of Toronto Libraries.