Arts & Sciences

Sonnet to J. M. K.

by Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809–1892

From Poems (1843)

Arts & Sciences

My hope and heart is with thee—thou wilt be
A latter Luther, and a soldier-priest
To scare church-harpies from the master's feast;
Our dusted velvets have much need of thee:
Thou art no sabbath-drawler of old saws,
Distill'd from some worm-canker'd homily;
But spurr'd at heart with fieriest energy
To embattail and to wall about thy cause
With iron -worded proof, hating to hark
The humming of the drowsy pulpit-drone
Half God's good sabbath, while the worn-out clerk
Brow-beats his desk below. Thou from a throne
Mounted in heaven wilt shoot into the dark
Arrows of lightnings. I will stand and mark.

MLA

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. “Sonnet to J. M. K.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/tennyson/273/.

Chicago

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. “Sonnet to J. M. K.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/tennyson/273/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by Alfred, Lord Tennyson