To —— (“As when with downcast eyes we muse and brood”)
As when with downcast eyes we muse and brood,And ebb into a former life, or seemTo lapse far back in some confused dreamTo states of mystical similitude;If one but speaks or hems or stirs his chair,Ever the wonder waxeth more and more,So that we say, “All this hath been before,All this hath been, I know not when or where”.So, friend, when first I look’d upon your face,Our thought gave answer each to each, so true—Opposed mirrors each reflecting each—Altho’ I knew not in what time or place,Methought that I had often met with you,And each had lived in the other’s mind and speech.
About this text
To —— (“As when with downcast eyes we muse and brood”) 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 —— (“As when with downcast eyes we muse and brood”), in The Early Poems (1830–1842), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8601, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-early-poems/to-as-when-with-downcast-eyes-we-muse-and-brood.html, id L20783.
Form and metre
To —— (“As when with downcast eyes we muse and brood”) is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBACDDCEFGEFG. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 ABBACDDCEFGEFG broodA · seemB · dreamB · similitudeA · chairC · moreD · beforeD · whereC · faceE · trueF · eachG · placeE · youF · speechG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As when with downcast eyes we muse and brood, | 10 | ···/······ |
| And ebb into a former life, or seem | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To lapse far back in some confused dream | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| To states of mystical similitude; | 10 | ···/˘˘˘/˘˘ |
| If one but speaks or hems or stirs his chair, | 10 | ·········· |
| Ever the wonder waxeth more and more, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| So that we say, “All this hath been before, | 10 | ·········· |
| All this hath been, I know not when or where”. | 10 | ·········· |
| So, friend, when first I look’d upon your face, | 10 | ·········· |
| Our thought gave answer each to each, so true— | 10 | /··/˘····· |
| Opposed mirrors each reflecting each— | 10 | ˘/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Altho’ I knew not in what time or place, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| Methought that I had often met with you, | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| And each had lived in the other’s mind and speech. | 11 | ······/˘··· |
On this poem
“And either lived in either’s heart and speech,”
and “hath” was not italicised.
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.