To a Lady Sleeping
O Thou whose fringed lids I gaze upon,Through whose dim brain the winged dreams are borne,Unroof the shrines of clearest vision,In honour of the silverflecked morn:Long hath the white wave of the virgin lightDriven back the billow of the dreamful dark.Thou all unwittingly prolongest night,Though long ago listening the poised lark,With eyes dropt downward through the blue serene,Over heaven’s parapets the angels lean.
Words in this poem
- unroof v. t.
- To strip off the roof or covering of, as a house. [1st pref. un- + roof.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- 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.]
- billow n.
- A great wave or surge of the sea or other water, caused usually by violent wind. [Cf. Icel. bylgja billow, Dan. bölge, Sw. bölja; akin to MHG. bulge billow, bag, and to E. bulge. See Bulge.]
- dreamful a.
- Full of dreams.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To a Lady Sleeping 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, To a Lady Sleeping, in The Early Poems (1830–1842), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8601, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-early-poems/to-a-lady-sleeping.html, id L20769.
Form and metre
To a Lady Sleeping is 10 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 35% 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 ABABCDCDEE uponA · borneB · visionA · mornB · lightC · darkD · nightC · larkD · sereneE · leanE
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 Thou whose fringed lids I gaze upon, | 9 | ········· |
| Through whose dim brain the winged dreams are borne, | 9 | ········· |
| Unroof the shrines of clearest vision, | 9 | ˘/···/˘/˘ |
| In honour of the silverflecked morn: | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Long hath the white wave of the virgin light | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Driven back the billow of the dreamful dark. | 10 | /··/˘··/˘· |
| Thou all unwittingly prolongest night, | 9 | ··˘/˘˘/˘· |
| Though long ago listening the poised lark, | 9 | ··˘//˘··· |
| With eyes dropt downward through the blue serene, | 9 | ···/···˘/ |
| Over heaven’s parapets the angels lean. | 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.