Tennyson's most famous lines
The top 3 according to 2,335 votes from people: To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. · I am a part of all that I have met · I will drink / Life to the lees. (Updated May 18, 2022.)
'To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield', 'Theirs not to reason why', ''Tis better to have loved and lost': the lines of Alfred, Lord Tennyson that everyone still quotes, checked against the texts on Wikisource.
Top 13
-
1
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
'Ulysses' (1842), last line.
-
2
I am a part of all that I have met
'Ulysses' (1842).
-
3
I will drink / Life to the lees
'Ulysses' (1842).
-
4
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
'Ulysses' (1842).
-
5
'Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all.
In Memoriam A. H. H. (1850), canto 27.
-
6
Half a league, half a league, / Half a league onward
'The Charge of the Light Brigade' (1854), first lines.
-
7
Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die
'The Charge of the Light Brigade' (1854).
-
8
'I am half sick of shadows,' said / The Lady of Shalott.
'The Lady of Shalott' (1842).
-
9
Into the valley of Death / Rode the six hundred.
'The Charge of the Light Brigade' (1854).
-
10
Break, break, break, / On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
'Break, Break, Break' (1842).
-
11
In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.
'Locksley Hall' (1842).
-
12
'The curse is come upon me,' cried / The Lady of Shalott.
'The Lady of Shalott' (1842).
-
13
And may there be no moaning of the bar, / When I put out to sea
'Crossing the Bar' (1889).
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (6)
The Lady of Shalott deserves to be higher imo, the whole poem is gorgeous
In Memoriam took him 17 years to write. The 'loved and lost' bit is like 4 lines out of thousands lol
Ulysses is the one. Had to memorise the last stanza at school and I still know it by heart 20 years later.
'Theirs not to reason why' gets misquoted as 'ours is not to reason why' constantly, nice to see the real line.
Crossing the Bar was read at my grandad's funeral. Can't read it without welling up.
Fun fact: Tennyson wrote the Light Brigade poem in a few minutes after reading the Times report. Or so the story goes.