Copy Book Archive

Ring out the Old, Ring in the New For Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Christmas was a time to let the dead past bury its dead.
1850
Music: Albert Ketèlbey

© Chris-Downer, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0. Source

About this picture …

Inside the belfry of All Saints’ Church in Inverary, Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The tower stands slightly apart from the church, having been built as a memorial to the Campbell clansmen who died in the Great War.

Ring out the Old, Ring in the New
The death of Tennyson’s close friend Arthur Henry Hallam left familiar Christmas Eve customs such as the holly and the music and the dancing full of sad memories for him. He responded positively, however, embracing the deeper message of Christmas Day: a new beginning, a New Year.

RING out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

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 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.

Précis

Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem in memory of Arthur Henry Hallam sets out his hopes on Christmas Day. He hopes to see the past bury its dead: old emnities, disease and want, discourtesy and disrespect. He calls for an end to war and greed, and for the time to come to reflect more faithfully the example of Jesus Christ. (58 / 60 words)

Source

Extracted from ‘In Memoriam’, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892).

Related Video

Suggested Music

Bells across the Meadows (1921)

Albert Ketèlbey (1875-1959)

Performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by John Lanchbery.

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How To Use This Passage

You can use this passage to help improve your command of English.

IRead it aloud, twice or more. IISummarise it in one sentence of up to 30 words. IIISummarise it in one paragraph of 40-80 words. IVMake notes on the passage, and reconstruct the original from them later on. VJot down any unfamiliar words, and make your own sentences with them later. VIMake a note of any words that surprise or impress you, and ask yourself what meaning they add to the words you would have expected to see. VIITurn any old-fashioned English into modern English. VIIITurn prose into verse, and verse into prose. IXAsk yourself what the author is trying to get you to feel or think. XHow would an artist or a photographer capture the scene? XIHow would a movie director shoot it, or a composer write incidental music for it?

For these and more ideas, see How to Use The Copy Book.

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