Minnie and Winnie poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Minnie and Winnie is a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. Tennyson's early poetry, with its medievalism and powerful visual imagery, was a major influence on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Minnie and Winnie

Slept in a shell

Sleep, little ladies!

And they slept well

Pink was the shell within,

Silver without;

Sounds of the great sea

Wander'd about.

Sleep, little ladies!

Wake not soon!

Echo on echo

Dies to the moon.

Two bright stars

Peep'd into the shell.

"What are you dreaming of?

Who can tell?"

Started a green linnet

Out of the croft;

Wake, little ladies,

The sun is aloft!