Second Song — To the Same
1 Thy tuwhits are lull’d I wot, Thy tuwhoos of yesternight, Which upon the dark afloat, So took echo with delight, So took echo with delight, That her voice untuneful grown, Wears all day a fainter tone. 2 I would mock thy chaunt anew; But I cannot mimick it; Not a whit of thy tuwhoo, Thee to woo to thy tuwhit, Thee to woo to thy tuwhit, With a lengthen’d loud halloo, Tuwhoo, tuwhit, tuwhit, tuwhoo-o-o.
First printed in 1830.Second Song — To the Same - meaning Summary
Playful Failed Imitation
Tennyson’s short lyric captures a speaker responding to a beloved birdlike call. The poem records how an evening song’s echoes fade by day, and how the speaker tries—and fails—to reproduce that intimate music. It frames longing as playful mimicry: the speaker admires the original sound, attempts a louder repetition to woo the source, yet admits imitation cannot replace the genuine voice or feeling of the night.
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