Love
Thou, from the first, unborn, undying love,Albeit we gaze not on thy glories near,Before the face of God didst breathe and move,Though night and pain and ruin and death reign here.Thou foldest, like a golden atmosphere,The very throne of the eternal God:Passing through thee the edicts of his fearAre mellowed into music, borne abroadBy the loud winds, though they uprend the sea,Even from his central deeps: thine emperyIs over all: thou wilt not brook eclipse;Thou goest and returnest to His LipsLike lightning: thou dost ever brood aboveThe silence of all hearts, unutterable Love.
To know thee is all wisdom, and old ageIs but to know thee: dimly we behold theeAthwart the veils of evil which enfold thee.We beat upon our aching hearts with rage;We cry for thee: we deem the world thy tomb.As dwellers in lone planets look uponThe mighty disk of their majestic sun,Hollowed in awful chasms of wheeling gloom,Making their day dim, so we gaze on thee.Come, thou of many crowns, white-robed love,Oh! rend the veil in twain: all men adore thee;Heaven crieth after thee; earth waileth for thee:Breathe on thy winged throne, and it shall moveIn music and in light o’er land and sea.
And now—methinks I gaze upon thee now,As on a serpent in his agoniesAwestricken Indians; what time laid lowAnd crushing the thick fragrant reeds he lies,When the new year warm breathed on the earth,Waiting to light him with his purple skies,Calls to him by the fountain to uprise.Already with the pangs of a new birthStrain the hot spheres of his convulsed eyes,And in his writhings awful hues beginTo wander down his sable sheeny sides,Like light on troubled waters: from withinAnon he rusheth forth with merry din,And in him light and joy and strength abides;And from his brows a crown of living lightLooks through the thickstemmed woods by day and night.
Words in this poem 19
- unborn a.
- Not born; no yet brought into life; being still to appear; future.
- undying a.
- Not dying; imperishable; unending; immortal; as, the undying souls of men.
- albeit conj.
- Even though; although; notwithstanding. [OE. al be although it be, where al is our all. Cf. Although.]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- empery n.
- Empire; sovereignty; dominion. [L. imperium, influenced by OF. emperie, empire. See Empire.]
- dimly adv.
- In a dim or obscure manner; not brightly or clearly; with imperfect sight.
- enfold v. t.
- To infold. See Infold.
- aching a.
- That aches; continuously painful. See Ache.
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- wheeling n.
- The act of conveying anything, or traveling, on wheels, or in a wheeled vehicle.
- twain a.
- Two;- nearly obsolete in common discourse, but used in poetry and burlesque. [OE. twein, tweien, tweyne, AS. twegen, masc. See Two.]
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
- 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,]
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
- uprise v. i.
- To rise; to get up; to appear from below the horizon.
- sable n.
- A carnivorous animal of the Weasel family (Mustela zibellina) native of the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia, and America, -- noted for its fine, soft, and valuable fur. [OF. sable, F. zibeline sable (in sense 4), LL. sabellum; cf. D. sabel, Dan. sabel, zobel, Sw. sabel, sobel, G. zobel; all fr. Russ. sóbole.]
- sheeny a.
- Bright; shining; radiant; sheen.
- anon adv.
- Straightway; at once. [OE. anoon, anon, anan, lit., in one (moment), fr. AS. on in + an one. See On and One.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Love 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, in The Early Poems (1830–1842), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8601, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-early-poems/love.html, id L16597.
Form and metre
Love is 44 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 34% 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 ABABB-B---CCAA loveA · nearB · moveA · hereB · atmosphereB · god · fearB · abroad · sea · empery · eclipseC · lipsC · aboveA · loveA
- 2 ABBAC--CBDBBDB ageA · theeB · theeB · rageA · tombC · upon · sun · gloomC · theeB · loveD · theeB · theeB · moveD · seaB
- 3 -A-ABAABACDCCDEE now · agoniesA · low · liesA · earthB · skiesA · upriseA · birthB · eyesA · beginC · sidesD · withinC · dinC · abidesD · lightE · nightE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thou, from the first, unborn, undying love, | 10 | ····//˘/˘· |
| Albeit we gaze not on thy glories near, | 11 | ˘/˘·····/˘· |
| Before the face of God didst breathe and move, | 10 | ·········· |
| Though night and pain and ruin and death reign here. | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Thou foldest, like a golden atmosphere, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| The very throne of the eternal God: | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Passing through thee the edicts of his fear | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Are mellowed into music, borne abroad | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| By the loud winds, though they uprend the sea, | 10 | ·········· |
| Even from his central deeps: thine empery | 11 | /˘··/˘··/˘˘ |
| Is over all: thou wilt not brook eclipse; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Thou goest and returnest to His Lips | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| Like lightning: thou dost ever brood above | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The silence of all hearts, unutterable Love. | 12 | ·/˘···˘/˘˘˘· |
| To know thee is all wisdom, and old age | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Is but to know thee: dimly we behold thee | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/· |
| Athwart the veils of evil which enfold thee. | 10 | ˘/···/·˘/· |
| We beat upon our aching hearts with rage; | 10 | ····//˘··· |
| We cry for thee: we deem the world thy tomb. | 10 | ·········· |
| As dwellers in lone planets look upon | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| The mighty disk of their majestic sun, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Hollowed in awful chasms of wheeling gloom, | 11 | /˘·/˘/˘·/˘· |
| Making their day dim, so we gaze on thee. | 10 | /˘········ |
| Come, thou of many crowns, white-robed love, | 10 | ···/˘···˘· |
| Oh! rend the veil in twain: all men adore thee; | 11 | ········˘/· |
| Heaven crieth after thee; earth waileth for thee: | 10 | /·····/˘·· |
| Breathe on thy winged throne, and it shall move | 10 | ····˘····· |
| In music and in light o’er land and sea. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And now—methinks I gaze upon thee now, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| As on a serpent in his agonies | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| Awestricken Indians; what time laid low | 9 | /˘/˘˘···· |
| And crushing the thick fragrant reeds he lies, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| When the new year warm breathed on the earth, | 10 | ······˘··· |
| Waiting to light him with his purple skies, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Calls to him by the fountain to uprise. | 10 | ·····/˘·/˘ |
| Already with the pangs of a new birth | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| Strain the hot spheres of his convulsed eyes, | 10 | ········˘· |
| And in his writhings awful hues begin | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| To wander down his sable sheeny sides, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Like light on troubled waters: from within | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Anon he rusheth forth with merry din, | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| And in him light and joy and strength abides; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| And from his brows a crown of living light | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Looks through the thickstemmed woods by day and night. | 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.