The Wedding

Sidney Lanier 1842 (Macon) – 1881 (Lynn)



O marriage-bells, your clamor tells
 Two weddings in one breath.
SHE marries whom her love compels:
 -- And I wed Goodman Death!
My brain is blank, my tears are red;
Listen, O God: --  "I will," he said: --
And I would that I were dead.
Come groomsman Grief and bridesmaid Pain
Come and stand with a ghastly twain.
My Bridegroom Death is come o'er the meres
To wed a bride with bloody tears.
Ring, ring, O bells, full merrily:
Life-bells to her, death-bells to me:
O Death, I am true wife to thee!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

29 sec read
90

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCCCDDAEFFF
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 492
Words 97
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Sidney Lanier

Sidney Lanier was a poet, writer, composer, critic, professor of literature at Johns Hopkins and first flutist with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra in Baltiimore. He wrote the Centennial cantata for the opening ceremony of the 1876 Centennial celebration in Philadelphia. more…

All Sidney Lanier poems | Sidney Lanier Books

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