Ring it Out and In

28 Dec 2023 | Christ-likeness | 0 comments

 … The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind
   For those that here we see no more;
   Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
   And ancient forms of party strife;
   Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
   The faithless coldness of the times;
   Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
   The civic slander and the spite;
   Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
   Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
   Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
   The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
   Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892), In Memoriam, 1850, ‘Ring out , wild bells…’

Notes from the Compiler

In 1850 Tennyson married, and was made Poet Laureate. After long years of poverty, melancholy, and emotional insecurity, this poem was published anonymously and reveals some of the religious and moral crises of the nineteenth century, and ours! A hopeful realist, he established himself as the greatest living poet of his day.

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *