Within and Without
"Within and Without" by James Russell Lowell sets a blazing Christmas hall against the frozen night outside. While firelight, ivy, and laughter fill the great hall, the aged Sir Launfal is driven from the castle porch by the seneschal's harsh command and left to sit in the gateway all night, watching the warm light flicker through stone window-slits. The poem's fierce contrasts — roaring Yule-log and shrilling wind, festive plenty and shelterless cold — give the scene a stark, almost painful edge.
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