The time draws near the birth of Christ
The time draws near the birth of Christ;The moon is hid, the night is still;A single church below the hillIs pealing, folded in the mist.
A single peal of bells below,That wakens at this hour of restA single murmur in the breast,That these are not the bells I know.
Like strangers’ voices here they sound,In lands where not a memory strays,Nor landmark breathes of other days,But all is new unhallow’d ground.
Words in this poem
- peal v. i.
- To appeal. Spencer.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The time draws near the birth of Christ 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, The time draws near the birth of Christ, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-102.html, id L18462.
Form and metre
The time draws near the birth of Christ is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 17% 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 christA · stillB · hillB · mistA
- 2 ABBA belowA · restB · breastB · knowA
- 3 ABBA soundA · straysB · daysB · groundA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The time draws near the birth of Christ; | 8 | ········ |
| The moon is hid, the night is still; | 8 | ········ |
| A single church below the hill | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Is pealing, folded in the mist. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| A single peal of bells below, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That wakens at this hour of rest | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| A single murmur in the breast, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| That these are not the bells I know. | 8 | ········ |
| Like strangers’ voices here they sound, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| In lands where not a memory strays, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Nor landmark breathes of other days, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| But all is new unhallow’d ground. | 8 | ········ |
On this poem
"A single church below the hill;"
this is at the place to which the family had moved, and the church is Waltham Abbey church. It is a fresh and strange locality, and the bells sound like strangers' voices, recalling nothing of his previous life; no memory can stray in the surrounding scenery;
"But all is new unhallow'd ground."
The Poet's mother lived for several years with her sister, Miss Fytche, in Well Walk, Hampstead; but this new home was at High Beach, Epping Forest.
Notes from the edition 4
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, line 3 A single church below the hill. Waltham Abbey church. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 1, line 1 Repeated from xxvin. i, 2. The remainder of the section forms a detailed contrast with XXVIIL
n. 'breathes': a favourite word with Tennyson as with Milton. Cf. (in this part of the poem) xcix. 7, C. 3. [Bradley] - Stanza 3, line 4 But all is new unhallow'd ground, High Beech, Epping Forest (where we were living). [Cf. xcix. ii. — ED.] [Tennyson]
- Stanza 3, line 4 'unhallow'd': contrast XCIX. 8. [Bradley]
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