The reference is, of course, to the well-known story of Margaret Roper,
the daughter of Sir Thomas More, who is said to have taken his head when
he was executed and preserved it till her death.]
[Footnote 29: Eleanor, the wife of Edward I., is said to have thus saved
his life when he was stabbed at Acre with a poisoned dagger.]
[Footnote 30: The earliest and latest editions, 'i.e.', 1833 and
1853, have "tho'," and all the editions between "though". "Though
culled," etc.]
MARGARET
First printed in 1833.
Another of Tennyson's delicious fancy portraits, the twin sister to
Adeline.
1
O sweet pale Margaret,
O rare pale Margaret,
What lit your eyes with tearful power,
Like moonlight on a falling shower?
Who lent you, love, your mortal dower
Of pensive thought and aspect pale,
Your melancholy sweet and frail
As perfume of the cuckoo-flower?
From the westward-winding flood,
From the evening-lighted wood,
From all things outward you have won
A tearful grace, as tho' [1] you stood
Between the rainbow and the sun.
The very smile before you speak,
That dimples your transparent cheek,
Encircles all the heart, and feedeth
The senses with a still delight
Of dainty sorrow without sound,
Like the tender amber round,
Which the moon about her spreadeth,
Moving thro' a fleecy night.
2
You love, remaining peacefully,
To hear the murmur of the strife,
But enter not the toil of life.
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