In Memoriam, XXVIII

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Teacher card

Published: 1850, in In Memoriam A. H. H.
Length: 20 lines, 138 words, no long words
Year band: Reading load: Years 3–4. A guide from word length, not a curriculum level.
Themes: winter
Time: 5–10 min, depending on the activity

The text

The time draws near the birth of Christ:The moon is hid; the night is still;The Christmas bells from hill to hillAnswer each other in the mist.

Four voices of four hamlets round,From far and near, on mead and moor,Swell out and fail, as if a doorWere shut between me and the sound:

Each voice four changes on the wind,That now dilate, and now decrease,Peace and goodwill, goodwill and peace,Peace and goodwill, to all mankind.

This year I slept and woke with pain,I almost wish’d no more to wake,And that my hold on life would breakBefore I heard those bells again:

But they my troubled spirit rule,For they controll’d me when a boy;They bring me sorrow touch’d with joy,The merry merry bells of Yule.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (died 1892), In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850), lines 1175–1198 of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950. Public domain in Australia: the author died before 1955. Copied word for word and checked against the ebook.

What to do with it

One link and one task line for each activity. Send a student the one you want them to do, or print this page and hand it round; each link has a QR code.

Its lines are dealt for the sky in the weather poemsin weatherline · 20 lines · about 5–10 min
Task for students (you can change the sentence before you print; nothing is saved)See where weatherline takes lines from this poem, then read today's poem the sky has chosen.
See where weatherline takes lines from this poem, then read today's poem the sky has chosen.
weatherline.popplepoetry.com/sources#te-xxviii

Send the whole hand-out

This page’s link. Students open it, read the text and pick what to do; nothing asks them to sign in.

Link for the whole text

https://popplepoetry.com/find/tennyson-in-memoriam-xxviii · popplepoetry.com