Love and Sorrow
O Maiden, fresher than the first green leafWith which the fearful springtide flecks the lea,Weep not, Almeida, that I said to theeThat thou hast half my heart, for bitter griefDoth hold the other half in sovranty.Thou art my heart’s sun in love’s crystalline:Yet on both sides at once thou canst not shine:Thine is the bright side of my heart, and thineMy heart’s day, but the shadow of my heart,Issue of its own substance, my heart’s nightThou canst not lighten even with thy light,All powerful in beauty as thou art.Almeida, if my heart were substanceless,Then might thy rays pass thro’ to the other side,So swiftly, that they nowhere would abide,But lose themselves in utter emptiness.Half-light, half-shadow, let my spirit sleep;They never learnt to love who never knew to weep.
Words in this poem
- springtide n.
- The time of spring; springtime. Thomson.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- substanceless a.
- Having no substance; unsubstantial. Coleridge.
- nowhere adv.
- Not anywhere; not in any place or state; as, the book is nowhere to be found. [AS. nahwær. See No, and Where.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love and Sorrow is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson, Project Gutenberg ebook #8601; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Alfred Tennyson, Love and Sorrow, in The Early Poems (1830–1842), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8601, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-early-poems/love-and-sorrow.html, id L16595.
Form and metre
Love and Sorrow is 18 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBABCCCDEEDFGGFHH. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 28% 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 ABBABCCCDEEDFGGFHH leafA · leaB · theeB · griefA · sovrantyB · crystallineC · shineC · thineC · heartD · nightE · lightE · artD · substancelessF · sideG · abideG · emptinessF · sleepH · weepH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O Maiden, fresher than the first green leaf | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| With which the fearful springtide flecks the lea, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Weep not, Almeida, that I said to thee | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| That thou hast half my heart, for bitter grief | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Doth hold the other half in sovranty. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thou art my heart’s sun in love’s crystalline: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Yet on both sides at once thou canst not shine: | 10 | ·········· |
| Thine is the bright side of my heart, and thine | 10 | ·········· |
| My heart’s day, but the shadow of my heart, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Issue of its own substance, my heart’s night | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Thou canst not lighten even with thy light, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| All powerful in beauty as thou art. | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| Almeida, if my heart were substanceless, | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘˘ |
| Then might thy rays pass thro’ to the other side, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| So swiftly, that they nowhere would abide, | 10 | ·/˘··/··˘/ |
| But lose themselves in utter emptiness. | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘˘ |
| Half-light, half-shadow, let my spirit sleep; | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| They never learnt to love who never knew to weep. | 10 | ·/····/··· |
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.