Portal:Speculative fiction/Selected picture/48

Illustration to Tennyson's "Sleeping Beauty" by W. E. F. Britten. Like a lot of Tennyson poems based on a literary source, Tennyson only focuses on a tiny part of the whole. Hence, the poem leaves out all the setup and the conclusion, instead describing what her sleep was like

Illustration to Tennyson's "Sleeping Beauty" by W. E. F. Britten. Like a lot of Tennyson poems based on a literary source, Tennyson only focuses on a tiny part of the whole. Hence, the poem leaves out all the setup and the conclusion, instead describing what her sleep was like:

Year after year unto her feet,

She lying on her couch alone,

Across the purpled coverlet,

The maiden's jet-black hair has grown,

On either side her tranced form

Forth streaming from a braid of pearl:

The slumbrous light is rich and warm,

And moves not on the rounded curl.

 

The silk star-broider'd coverlid

Unto her limbs itself doth mould

Languidly ever; and, amid

Her full black ringlets downward roll'd,

Glows forth each softly-shadow'd arm,

With bracelets of the diamond bright:

Her constant beauty doth inform

Stillness with love, and day with light.

 

She sleeps: her breathings are not heard

In palace chambers far apart.

The fragrant tresses are not stirr'd

That lie upon her charmed heart.

She sleeps: on either hand upswells

The gold-fringed pillow lightly prest:

She sleeps, nor dreams, but ever dwells

A perfect form in perfect rest.