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.
from In Memoriam by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-92)
January 1st 2016
This quatrain is one verse of the section of ‘In Memoriam’ usually called by the first line, ‘Ring out wild bells, to the wild sky’ – and a perfect choice for New Year’s Day, because it is to celebrate the turn of the year that the bells are ringing. ‘In Memoriam’ is one of the greatest poems of the Victorian age – a profound examination of the nature of grief, written after the death of Arthur Henry Hallam (the poet’s sister’s fiancé) and published in 1850 – the year Tennyson became Poet Laureate. Here are the first two verses:
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 the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
This is a poem about letting things go, about moving on, about getting on with life – and other popular clichés of modern life. I find the sentiments wonderful and exciting: the poet wants to stop looking back at old sorrows and old ideas and look forward instead to a new Golden Age:
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.
I chose the four lines at the top instead of any other verse because I like the acknowledgement that grief ‘saps the mind.’ You may notice that that is also the subject of my main letter today. Then too, I applaud the poet’s wish for and end to ‘the feud of rich and poor.’ That might not seem so obvious – might, indeed, appear to imply an acceptance of inequality. Yet not so, because in the next line he wants ‘redress to all mankind’ – in other words, justice for all. If you redress the balance, after all, you set things right, by taking action to restore equality in a situation. So what Tennyson seems to want to see an end to is arid class envy – and I would be with him on that, especially when I listen to the bombastic rhetoric of certain politicians and the posturing of anarchist demonstrators who believe that invading Fortnum & Mason will bring about the revolution! It may be nonsense, but it is nasty nonsense, nevertheless. And by alienating the silent majority, it pushes real reform, real justice further away.
So that’s it. This comes with my happy New Year wishes to you all. And may the wild bells ring out in your lives.