The Tears of Heaven
Heaven weeps above the earth all night till morn,In darkness weeps, as all ashamed to weep,Because the earth hath made her state forlornWith selfwrought evils of unnumbered years,And doth the fruit of her dishonour reap.And all the day heaven gathers back her tearsInto her own blue eyes so clear and deep,And showering down the glory of lightsome day,Smiles on the earth’s worn brow to win her if she may.
Words in this poem
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- unnumbered a.
- Not numbered; not counted or estimated; innumerable.
- dishonour n.
- Lack of honor; disgrace; ignominy; shame; reproach. [OE. deshonour, dishonour, OF. deshonor, deshonur, F. déshonneur; pref. des- (L. dis-) + honor, honur, F. honneur, fr. L. honor. See Honor.]
- reap n.
- A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut. Wright. [Cf. AS. rip harvest. See Reap, v.]
- lightsome a.
- Having light; lighted; not dark or gloomy; bright.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Tears of Heaven 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, The Tears of Heaven, in The Early Poems (1830–1842), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8601, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-early-poems/the-tears-of-heaven.html, id L16594.
Form and metre
The Tears of Heaven is 9 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABACBCBDD. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 22% 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 ABACBCBDD mornA · weepB · forlornA · yearsC · reapB · tearsC · deepB · dayD · mayD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Heaven weeps above the earth all night till morn, | 10 | /········· |
| In darkness weeps, as all ashamed to weep, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Because the earth hath made her state forlorn | 10 | ········˘/ |
| With selfwrought evils of unnumbered years, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| And doth the fruit of her dishonour reap. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| And all the day heaven gathers back her tears | 10 | ····//˘··· |
| Into her own blue eyes so clear and deep, | 10 | ·········· |
| And showering down the glory of lightsome day, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘·/˘· |
| Smiles on the earth’s worn brow to win her if she may. | 12 | ············ |
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.