Explore "The Princess" by Alfred Tennyson on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Now, scarce three paces measured from the mound, / We stumbled on a stationary voice, / And 'Stand, who goes?' 'Two from the palace' I. / 'The second two: they wait,' he said, 'pass on; / His Highness wakes:' and one, that clashed in arms, / By glimmering lanes and walls of canvas led / Threading the soldier-city, till we heard / The drowsy folds of our great ensign shake / From blazoned lions o'er the imperial tent / Whispers of war.
Entering, the sudden light / Dazed me half-blind: I stood and seemed to hear, / As in a poplar grove when a light wind wakes / A lisping of the innumerous leaf and dies, / Each hissing in his neighbour's ear; and then / A strangled titter, out of which there brake / On all sides, clamouring etiquette to death, / Unmeasured mirth; while now the two old kings / Began to wag their baldness up and down, / The fresh young captains flashed their glittering teeth, / The huge bush-bearded Barons heaved and blew, / And slain with laughter rolled the gilded Squire.