Illustration to tennyson's "sleeping beauty" by w. E. F. Britten. Like a lot of tennyson poems based on a literary source, tennyson only focuses on a tiny part of the whole. Hence, the poem leaves out all the setup and the conclusion, instead describing what her sleep was like:
year after year unto her feet,
she lying on her couch alone,
across the purpled coverlet,
the maiden's jet-black hair has grown,
on either side her tranced form
forth streaming from a braid of pearl:
the slumbrous light is rich and warm,
and moves not on the rounded curl. The silk star-broider'd coverlid
unto her limbs itself doth mould
languidly ever; and, amid
her full black ringlets downward roll'd,
glows forth each softly-shadow'd arm,
with bracelets of the diamond bright:
her constant beauty doth inform
stillness with love, and day with light. She sleeps: her breathings are not heard
in palace chambers far apart. The fragrant tresses are not stirr'd
that lie upon her charmed heart. She sleeps: on either hand upswells
the gold-fringed pillow lightly prest:
she sleeps, nor dreams, but ever dwells
a perfect form in perfect rest. Date: 1901 (terminus post quem).
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