ABSTRACT

First publ. M & W, 10 Nov. 1855; repr. 1863 (when it was placed in ‘Lyrics’: see Appendix D, p. 747), 18652, 1868, 1872, 1888. Our text is 1855. There are very few variants in printed eds., none significant. The poem became B.’s standard ‘album’ poem: a dozen MSS, dated between 1870 and 1887, are extant (Collections, E267–77), none with significant variants.