On that last night before we went
On that last night before we wentFrom out the doors where I was bred,I dream’d a vision of the dead,Which left my after morn content.
Methought I dwelt within a hall,And maidens with me: distant hillsFrom hidden summits fed with rillsA river sliding by the wall.
The hall with harp and carol rang.They sang of what is wise and goodAnd graceful. In the centre stoodA statue veil’d, to which they sang;
And which, tho’ veil’d, was known to me,The shape of him I loved, and loveFor ever: then flew in a doveAnd brought a summons from the sea:
And when they learnt that I must goThey wept and wail’d, but led the wayTo where a little shallop layAt anchor in the flood below;
And on by many a level mead,And shadowing bluff that made the banks,We glided winding under ranksOf iris, and the golden reed;
And still as vaster grew the shore,And roll’d the floods in grander space,The maidens gather’d strength and graceAnd presence, lordlier than before;
And I myself, who sat apartAnd watch’d them, waxt in every limb;I felt the thews of Anakim,The pulses of a Titan’s heart;
As one would sing the death of war,And one would chant the historyOf that great race, which is to be,And one the shaping of a star;
Until the forward-creeping tidesBegan to foam, and we to drawFrom deep to deep, to where we sawA great ship lift her shining sides.
The man we loved was there on deck,But thrice as large as man he bentTo greet us. Up the side I went,And fell in silence on his neck:
Whereat those maidens with one mindBewail’d their lot; I did them wrong:‘We served thee here,’ they said, ‘so long,And wilt thou leave us now behind?’
So rapt I was, they could not winAn answer from my lips, but heReplying, ‘Enter likewise yeAnd go with us:’ they enter’d in.
And while the wind began to sweepA music out of sheet and shroud,We steer’d her toward a crimson cloudThat landlike slept along the deep.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- 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.]
- carol v. t.
- To praise or celebrate in song.
- centre v. i.
- To be placed in a center; to be central.
- shadowing n.
- Shade, or gradation of light and color; shading. Feltham.
- bluff a.
- Having a broad, flattened front; as, the bluff bows of a ship. [Cf. OD. blaf flat, broad, blaffaert one with a broad face, also, a boaster; or G. verblüffen to confuse, LG. bluffen to frighten; to unknown origin.]
- anakim n.
- A race of giants living in Palestine. [Heb.]
- whereat adv.
- At which; upon which; whereupon; -- used relatively.
- rapt n.
- An ecstasy; a trance. Bp. Morton. [From F. rapt abduction, rape, L. raptus, fr. rapere to seize and carry off, to transport; or fr. E. rapt, a. See Rapt, a., and Rapid.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On that last night before we went is in the public domain. This text is taken from In memoriam, Project Gutenberg ebook #70950; 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, On that last night before we went, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-101.html, id L18461.
Form and metre
On that last night before we went is 56 lines in 14 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 43% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABBA wentA · bredB · deadB · contentA
- 2 ABBA hallA · hillsB · rillsB · wallA
- 3 ABBA rangA · goodB · stoodB · sangA
- 4 ABBA meA · loveB · doveB · seaA
- 5 ABBA goA · wayB · layB · belowA
- 6 ABBA meadA · banksB · ranksB · reedA
- 7 ABBA shoreA · spaceB · graceB · beforeA
- 8 ABBA apartA · limbB · anakimB · heartA
- 9 ABBA warA · historyB · beB · starA
- 10 ABBA tidesA · drawB · sawB · sidesA
- 11 ABBA deckA · bentB · wentB · neckA
- 12 ABBA mindA · wrongB · longB · behindA
- 13 ABBA winA · heB · yeB · inA
- 14 ABBA sweepA · shroudB · cloudB · deepA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| On that last night before we went | 8 | ········ |
| From out the doors where I was bred, | 8 | ········ |
| I dream’d a vision of the dead, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Which left my after morn content. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Methought I dwelt within a hall, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| And maidens with me: distant hills | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| From hidden summits fed with rills | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| A river sliding by the wall. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The hall with harp and carol rang. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| They sang of what is wise and good | 8 | ········ |
| And graceful. In the centre stood | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A statue veil’d, to which they sang; | 8 | ·/······ |
| And which, tho’ veil’d, was known to me, | 8 | ········ |
| The shape of him I loved, and love | 8 | ········ |
| For ever: then flew in a dove | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And brought a summons from the sea: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And when they learnt that I must go | 8 | ········ |
| They wept and wail’d, but led the way | 8 | ········ |
| To where a little shallop lay | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| At anchor in the flood below; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And on by many a level mead, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| And shadowing bluff that made the banks, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| We glided winding under ranks | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Of iris, and the golden reed; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And still as vaster grew the shore, | 8 | ········ |
| And roll’d the floods in grander space, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The maidens gather’d strength and grace | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And presence, lordlier than before; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And I myself, who sat apart | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| And watch’d them, waxt in every limb; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I felt the thews of Anakim, | 8 | ········ |
| The pulses of a Titan’s heart; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| As one would sing the death of war, | 8 | ········ |
| And one would chant the history | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Of that great race, which is to be, | 8 | ········ |
| And one the shaping of a star; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Until the forward-creeping tides | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Began to foam, and we to draw | 8 | ˘/······ |
| From deep to deep, to where we saw | 8 | ········ |
| A great ship lift her shining sides. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The man we loved was there on deck, | 8 | ········ |
| But thrice as large as man he bent | 8 | ········ |
| To greet us. Up the side I went, | 8 | ········ |
| And fell in silence on his neck: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Whereat those maidens with one mind | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Bewail’d their lot; I did them wrong: | 8 | ········ |
| ‘We served thee here,’ they said, ‘so long, | 8 | ········ |
| And wilt thou leave us now behind?’ | 8 | ········ |
| So rapt I was, they could not win | 8 | ········ |
| An answer from my lips, but he | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Replying, ‘Enter likewise ye | 8 | ˘/˘/˘/·· |
| And go with us:’ they enter’d in. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And while the wind began to sweep | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| A music out of sheet and shroud, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| We steer’d her toward a crimson cloud | 9 | ······/˘· |
| That landlike slept along the deep. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
On this poem
"Which left my after-morn content;"
it imparted comfort.
The Poet seemed to be in a hall, where maidens were singing before a veiled statue--
"known to me, The shape of him I loved."
A dove flies in and summons him to the sea, where, together with his female companions, he enters a boat. As the boat glides away with them, they all seem to expand into greater size and strength; and a vast ship meets them, on the deck of which, in giant proportions, stands "the man we loved."
The maidens weep, as they fear being left behind; but all enter the ship, and
"We steer'd her toward a crimson cloud That land-like slept along the deep."
The teaching is allegorical of the voyage, and of those on board, and we may take this interpretation: I rather believe the maidens are the Muses, Arts, &c. Everything that made Life beautiful here, we may hope may pass on with us beyond the grave.
The description somewhat reminds one of the passage of king Arthur to the island of Avilion.
Notes from the edition 12
Section introductions from Alfred Gatty, <i>A Key to Lord Tennyson's “In Memoriam”</i>, 4th ed. (George Bell & Sons, 1900; Project Gutenberg #36637). Line notes credited “[Tennyson]” are Tennyson's own notes; “[Hallam Tennyson]” marks a note that is wholly his son and editor's own explanatory bracket, not the poet's own words; “[Emily Tennyson]” marks the few notes signed by his wife. All three are from <i>The Works of Tennyson, Annotated by the Author</i>, ed. Hallam, Lord Tennyson, vol. 3 (Macmillan, 1908; Internet Archive worksoftennysona03tennuoft). Line notes credited “[Bradley]” are A. C. Bradley's, from <i>A Commentary on Tennyson's In Memoriam</i> (Macmillan, 1910; Internet Archive commentaryontenn00braduoft). All these number sections by the final, 131-section text, not the site's own 1850 numbering: from final XL to LVIII subtract one section number, from LX on subtract two, to reach the site's; the site prints the 129-section first edition of 1850 (see the work's own blurb), so two of the final text's numbered sections have no home here and are skipped.
- Stanza 1 [I have a dream which comforts me on leaving the old home and brings me content. The departure suggests the departure of death, and my reunion with him. I have grown in spiritual grace as he has. The gorgeous sky at the end of the section typifies the glory of the hope in that which is to be.] [Emily Tennyson]
- Stanza 2, line 1 Methought I dwelt within a hall,
And maidens with me.
They are the Muses, poetry, arts — all that made life beautiful here, which we hope will pass with us beyond the grave.
hidden summits, the divine.
river, life. [Tennyson] - Stanza 2, line 1 Cf. the ' mystic mountain-range ' in The Vision of Sin, and The Ancient Sage:
This wealth of waters might but seem to draw From yon dark cave, but, son, the source is higher, Yon summit half-a-league in air — and higher, The cloud that hides it — higher still, the heavens Whereby the cloud was moulded, and whereout The cloud descended. Force is from the heights.
Cf. also The Poefs Mind. [Bradley] - Stanza 2, line 4 Cf. Geor. II. 157, ' Fluminaque antiques subterlabentia mures.' [Bradley]
- Stanza 4 sea, eternity. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 4, line 2 'I loved, and love For ever.' The words are almost repeated in the last line of Vastness. [Bradley]
- Stanza 5, line 4 * flood ': river: cf. LXXXVI. 7. [Bradley]
- Stanza 6, line 4 * golden reed '; this does not appear to be the popular name of any plant. The Branched Bur-reed, Sparganium Ramosum^ seems most likely to be the plant intended. It has- been suggested that 'iris' means the purple iris, and 'golden reed' the yellow one, but the purple one does not grow in the situation required. [Bradley]
- Stanza 7 The progress of the Age. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 8, line 2 Cf. Epilogue, 19, 20. [Bradley]
- Stanza 9 The great hopes of humanity and science. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 9, line 1 For this 'Vision of the World' cf. cxvill. 14, Epilogue, 128 ff., Locksley Hall, Locksley Hall Sixty Years After. [Bradley]
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.