Please note our box office phone number is currently unavailable Please email boxoffice@oxfordsong.org for all enquiries

Songs

Ring out, wild bells

by Jonathan Dove From The Passing of the Year (2000)

If you would like to use our texts and translations, please click here for more information.

Text

Ring out, wild bells
English source: Alfred, Lord Tennyson

O Earth, O Earth, return!

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the time;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Composer

Poet

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Alfred, Lord Tennyson was Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular British poets. Read some of his work here, on Poetry Foundation.

Help us with a Donation

Enjoying our texts and translations? Help us continue to offer this service to all.

Make a Donation

Select Tickets