In Memory of J.T.F.
Until we meet again! That is the meaningOf the familiar words, that men repeatAt parting in the street.Ah yes, till then! but when death interveningRends us asunder, with what ceaseless painWe wait for the Again!
The friends who leave us do not feel the sorrowOf parting, as we feel it, who must stayLamenting day by day,And knowing, when we wake upon the morrow,We shall not find in its accustomed placeThe one beloved face.
It were a double grief, if the departed,Being released from earth, should still retainA sense of earthly pain;It were a double grief, if the true-hearted,Who loved us here, should on the farther shoreRemember us no more.
Believing, in the midst of our afflictions,That death is a beginning, not an end,We cry to them, and sendFarewells, that better might be called predictions,Being fore-shadowings of the future, thrownInto the vast Unknown.
Faith overleaps the confines of our reason,And if by faith, as in old times was said,Women received their deadRaised up to life, then only for a seasonOur partings are, nor shall we wait in vainUntil we meet again!
Words in this poem
- ceaseless a.
- Without pause or end; incessant.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In Memory of J.T.F. is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, In Memory of J.T.F., in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/in-memory-of-j-t-f.html, id L17837.
Form and metre
In Memory of J.T.F. is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBACC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.0 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 47% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABBACC meaningA · repeatB · streetB · interveningA · painC · againC
- 2 ABBACC sorrowA · stayB · dayB · morrowA · placeC · faceC
- 3 ABBACC departedA · retainB · painB · heartedA · shoreC · moreC
- 4 ABBACC afflictionsA · endB · sendB · predictionsA · thrownC · unknownC
- 5 ABBACC reasonA · saidB · deadB · seasonA · vainC · againC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Until we meet again! That is the meaning | 11 | ····˘/···/˘ |
| Of the familiar words, that men repeat | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| At parting in the street. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Ah yes, till then! but when death intervening | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Rends us asunder, with what ceaseless pain | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| We wait for the Again! | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The friends who leave us do not feel the sorrow | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Of parting, as we feel it, who must stay | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Lamenting day by day, | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| And knowing, when we wake upon the morrow, | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| We shall not find in its accustomed place | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| The one beloved face. | 5 | ··˘/· |
| It were a double grief, if the departed, | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| Being released from earth, should still retain | 10 | /˘˘/····˘/ |
| A sense of earthly pain; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| It were a double grief, if the true-hearted, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Who loved us here, should on the farther shore | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Remember us no more. | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| Believing, in the midst of our afflictions, | 11 | ˘/˘····/˘/˘ |
| That death is a beginning, not an end, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| We cry to them, and send | 6 | ······ |
| Farewells, that better might be called predictions, | 11 | ·/·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Being fore-shadowings of the future, thrown | 10 | /·/˘˘··/˘· |
| Into the vast Unknown. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Faith overleaps the confines of our reason, | 11 | ·····/··//˘ |
| And if by faith, as in old times was said, | 10 | ·········· |
| Women received their dead | 6 | /˘˘/·· |
| Raised up to life, then only for a season | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Our partings are, nor shall we wait in vain | 10 | //˘······· |
| Until we meet again! | 6 | ····˘/ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.