Lyric Poem · Winter
In Memoriam 104: The time draws near the birth of Christ
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson · 1850
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“In Memoriam 104: The time draws near the birth of Christ” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson — quilloak.com/poems/in-memoriam-104-the-time-draws-near-the-birth-of-christ
Quick facts
- Poem
- In Memoriam 104: The time draws near the birth of Christ
- Poet
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson
- Published
- 1850
- Length
- 12 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem, Quatrain
- Themes
- Winter, Sad, Short
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 12 lines · 3 quatrains
- Line length
- Consistent with long metre. Four eight-syllable lines (8.8.8.8), the hymn stanza's longer cousin.
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
First published before 1929 and checked line by line against the cited copy. Full-text display is based on a United States term-expiry review; status can differ elsewhere.
- Author record
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson1809–1892
- Source record
- Project Gutenberg eBook #70950, In Memoriam (first edition, 1850)In Memoriam 104: The time draws near the birth of Christ; In Memoriam (London: Edward Moxon, 1850), section CII (104 in the standard numbering)
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-11-04
- Publication record
- In Memoriam (London: Edward Moxon, 1850), section CII (104 in the standard numbering)
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 39b28edc43c22938…
- Editorial handling
- Curly apostrophes and quotation marks printed as straight ones. Wording and punctuation follow the first edition of 1850 exactly. The first edition numbers this section CII; it is section 104 in the standard numbering, which counts the two sections Tennyson added after 1850.