Talk:St. Simeon Stylites (poem)
Latest comment: 9 years ago by Crisco 1492 in topic File:W.E.F. Britten - The Early Poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson - St. Simeon Stylites.jpg
 | A fact from St. Simeon Stylites (poem) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 10 September 2009 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
|  |
 | This article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: |
||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:W.E.F. Britten - The Early Poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson - St. Simeon Stylites.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on May 6, 2014. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2014-05-06. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. Thanks! — Crisco 1492 (talk) 04:23, 20 April 2014 (UTC)
"St Simeon Stylites" is a poem written by Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, in 1833 and published in his 1842 collection of poetry. The poem describes the actions of Simeon Stylites, the first pillar saint (a mediaeval Christian movement in which hermits, in the hopes of becoming closer to God, would perch atop tall columns for years, as a form of asceticism), who counts his various physical acts and hopes that he has earned his place in heaven. It captures Tennyson's feelings following the death of a close friend, Arthur Hallam, and contains feelings of self-loathing and regret. The work has ironic overtones that give it the appearance of a satirical work.
Illustration: W.E.F. Britten; restoration: Adam Cuerden
This illustration, from a 1901 edition, illustrates the following lines:
"And yet I know not well,
For that the evil ones come here, and say,
'Fall down, O Simeon; thou hast suffered long
For ages and for ages!'"