Edited by Richard Walker, Tuesday, 17 Sept 2019, 01:13
'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all.
This is from Tennyson, In Memoriam, and for most of my life I assumed it referred to some sort of triangle, with the writer ending up as the loser in love. But I think in fact the rival was not a person but Death, who claimed someone who was a dear friend.
I don’t always like Tennyson’s poetry, but this couplet shows he was sometimes a genius, and this saying resonates with all love, everywhere, and for all time.
‘Tis better to have loved and lost’
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.
This is from Tennyson, In Memoriam, and for most of my life I assumed it referred to some sort of triangle, with the writer ending up as the loser in love. But I think in fact the rival was not a person but Death, who claimed someone who was a dear friend.
I don’t always like Tennyson’s poetry, but this couplet shows he was sometimes a genius, and this saying resonates with all love, everywhere, and for all time.