Selected Poems by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

‘In the Spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest;’ – lapwings are acrobatic flyers with black crests. ‘Wanton’ = sexually active.

‘In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish'd dove;’ – ‘iris’ implies an iridescent rainbow colour; Tennyson’s ‘dove’ is what would nowadays be called a pigeon.

‘Then her cheek was pale and thinner than should be for one so young,’ – The ideal woman in the Romantic period was often ‘pale and interesting.’

‘And her eyes on all my motions with a mute observance hung.’ – This is more of a Victorian stereotype. Girls were strongly discouraged from being forward.

‘Trust me, cousin, all the current of my being sets to thee."’ – as in a sea-current. Here it means ‘deepest urge.’

‘On her pallid cheek and forehead came a colour and a light,/As I have seen the rosy red flushing in the northern night.’ – a reference to the Aurora Borealis, which can, on occasion, be ‘rosy red.’ Tennyson is using a colour which suggests a sexual awakening (cf. the robin’s breast reddening above). He frequently associates the advent of light with passion (cf. Tithonus ).

‘And she turn'd--her bosom shaken with a sudden storm of sighs—’ –Romantic passion is powerfully unleashed.

‘All the spirit deeply dawning in the dark of hazel eyes—’ – Here Amy shows herself capable of fulfilling the role of ‘spirited’ Romantic heroine.

‘Love took up the glass of Time, and turn'd it in his glowing hands;’ – the image is of an hour-glass, and the idea is that time passes fast when in love. Note how the hands of Love glow with passion.

‘Love took up the harp of Life, and smote on all the chords with might;/Smote the chord of Self, that, trembling, pass'd in music out of sight.’ – Love casts out selfish feelings.

‘And her whisper throng'd my pulses with the fulness of the Spring.’ – ‘throng’d’ implies the heart beating fast and suddenly with lots of beats together.