"Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal" is a poem written by

Alfred Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

. It is like a sonnet in having fourteen iambic lines, but it is not rhymed (except that the word "me" is repeated at the ends of key lines), and it does not follow either the Shakespearean or Petrarchan organization. It was first published in 1847, in '' The Princess: A Medley''. The poem has been set to music several times, including settings by

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

Roger Quilter Roger Cuthbert Quilter (1 November 1877 – 21 September 1953) was a British composer, known particularly for his art songs. His songs, which number over a hundred, often set music to text by William Shakespeare and are a mainstay of the E ...

Ned Rorem Ned Rorem (October 23, 1923 – November 18, 2022) was an American composer of contemporary classical music and writer. Best known for his art songs, which number over 500, Rorem was the leading American of his time writing in the genre. Althoug ...

Mychael Danna Mychael Danna (born September 20, 1958) is a Canadian composer of film and television scores. He won both the Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Original Score for '' Life of Pi''. He has also won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition ...

and Paul Mealor.Con Anima Chamber Choir: Now Sleeps The Crimson Petal
It also appeared as a song in the 2004 film '' Vanity Fair'' (based on Thackeray's novel from 1848), sung by the character Becky Sharp. Writer and poet Oscar Wilde included a reference to Tennyson's poem in the last paragraph of his essay "

The Decay of Lying "The Decay of Lying – An Observation" is an essay by Oscar Wilde included in his collection of essays titled ''Intentions'', published in 1891. This is a significantly revised version of the article that first appeared in the January 1889 issue ...

": "The final revelation is that Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of Art. But of this I think I have spoken at sufficient length. And now let us go out on the terrace, where 'droops the milk-white peacock 6/57like a ghost', while the evening star 'washes the dusk with silver'. At twilight nature becomes a wonderfully suggestive effect, and is not without loveliness, though perhaps its chief use is to illustrate quotations from the poets. Come! We have talked long enough."

Michel Faber Michel Faber (born 13 April 1960) is a Dutch-born writer of English-language fiction, including his 2002 novel ''The Crimson Petal and the White''. His latest book is a novel for young adults, ''D—A Tale of Two Worlds, D: A Tale of Two Worlds'' ...

adapted the first line of Tennyson's poem for his novel set in

Victorian London During the 19th century, London grew enormously to become a global city of immense importance. It was the largest city in the world from about 1825, the world's largest port, and the heart of international finance and trade. Railways connecting ...

, ''

The Crimson Petal and the White ''The Crimson Petal and the White'' is a 2002 novel by Michel Faber set in Victorian England. The title is from an 1847 poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson entitled " Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal", the opening line of which is "Now sleeps the cri ...

Poem

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