Poem: "Jenny Kiss'd Me" by Leigh Hunt

James Henry Leigh Hunt (Samuel Laurence, c. 1837) (Wikimedia)

Critic, essayist and poet Leigh Hunt (1784-1859) knew most of the British literary "greats" of his time--Keats, Shelley, Byron, Robert Browning, Tennyson, Jeremy Bentham, Charles Lamb, and others; Dickens based a character on him. At some point, the Hunts became close with their neighbors, Thomas Carlyle and his wife Jane, known as "Jenny." In 1838, Hunt had recovered from the flu (then as now a serious illness), and went to call on the Carlyles. In an uncharacteristic show of warmth (she was known to be somewhat dour), Jenny Carlyle jumped up and kissed him. Two days later one Hunt's servants delivered a note containing this poem.

Jenny kiss'd me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and wealth have miss'd me,
Say I'm growing old, but add,
Jenny kiss'd me.

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SOME WORDS:

• kiss'd: pronounced as one syllable; at the time, "kissed" might have been pronounced KISS-ud.
• weary: tired

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QUESTION:

Why might the usually-dour Mrs. Carlyle have suddenly jumped up and kissed Leigh Hunt? Have you ever done something like that on impulse?