Background about the poem
“Tears, Idle Tears” is part of a larger lyric poem called “The Princess". In it the poet feels sad over “the days that are no more” (the happy days of youth). He is unhappy as he knows well that all things pass away.
(Paraphrase)
The poet sings of the useless tears that rise in his heart and come into his eyes when he looks at the golden fields of autumn and remembers the past.
This past (the days that are no more) is fresh and sad. "Fresh" as the first beam of sunlight shining on the sail of a ship bringing our friend back from death. The past is also "sad" as the last red beam of sunlight that shines on the ship that carries all our beloved people down to death again.
The past is not only fresh, sad but also strange. It is strange as the song of the birds on early summer mornings to people who are dying and can only see the last rays of life.
In the final stanza, the poet describes the past as dear, sweet, deep, and wild. *It is as precious غالى as the kisses we get from a person who is now dead. *It is as sweet as kisses that we imagine ourselves giving to a lover who is out of reach. *The past is as deep as “first love” and *as wild as the sorrow that usually follows this love. Finally the poet says that the past is a “Death in Life.”
To think of the past is to feel the pain of death