- Source: The Ballad of Oriana
"The Ballad of Oriana" is an early poem by Alfred Tennyson, published in 1830, but not in 1833.
Background
According to critic John Churton Collins, "This fine ballad was evidently suggested by the old ballad of "Helen of Kirkconnel", both poems being based on a similar incident, and both being the passionate soliloquy of the bereaved lover, though Tennyson's treatment of the subject is his own."
"Helen of Kirkconnel" was one of the poems which he was fond of reciting, and Fitzgerald says that he used also to recite this poem, in a way not to be forgotten, at Cambridge tables.
Text
References
Sources
Collins, John Churton, ed. (1900). The Early Poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. London: Methuen & Co. pp. xv–xvi, xxi, xxv, 36–39. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Tennyson, Hallam (1898). Alfred Lord Tennyson: A Memoir by His Son. Vol. 1. New York: The Macmillan Company. pp. 48, 92, 286, 503.