Images of insubstantial things dominate in this couplet: the repetition of the simile ‘like a ghost’ suggests the spiritual and the intangible, while ‘glimmers’ summons the idea of the lovers melting into one another. The ‘peacock’ – famous for displaying its plumage in order to attract a sexual partner – is the next exotic creature to be mentioned. Now we move from an opening quatrain to three separate couplets. Now droops the milk-white peacock like a ghost, ‘Waken’ here is obviously ironic, given it’s night time, but the ‘wakening’ here is a sexual one as much as anything. The speaker then calls upon her beloved to ‘waken’ with her. In the third line, we have more imagery, specifically gold and fire-coloured imagery: the ‘gold fin’ of the fish in the font, and the firefly (its burning glow suggestive of the burning passions of the speaker). The ‘cypress’ tree no longer sways in the path leading up to the palace (Ida is a princess, remember): the night air is still, oppressive close, with no breeze. ‘Crimson’ and ‘white’ suggest the contrast between the flesh and the blood, between sin and purity, lovemaking and denial (back to the ghazal and the idea of lovers being unable to be with each other). Both the ‘crimson petal’ of the flowers and the ‘white’ are sleeping, closed up now the sun has gone down. Tennyson begins with a pair of couplets arranged as a quatrain, establishing the night-time setting for this passionate love poem. Nor winks the gold fin in the porphyry font.

Nor waves the cypress in the palace walk Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white

Let’s go through the poem section by section: ‘Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal, Now the White’: analysis It’s an unusually sensuous poem, even erotic, for a work of Victorian literature, but then the Victorians weren’t as prudish as is often believed. In summary, the poem expresses a lover’s desires for her beloved at night, and the speaker fittingly draws upon the activities of other ‘creatures of the night’ to reflect her own desires for her sweetheart.

The crimson petal & the white