Laurel · Alfred Tennyson · In Memoriam A.H.H.

Heart-affluence in discursive talk

Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892) · 1850

iambic tetrameter · ABBA · 24 lines · from In Memoriam A.H.H.

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Heart-affluence in discursive talkFrom household fountains never dry;The critic clearness of an eye,That saw thro’ all the Muses’ walk;

Seraphic intellect and forceTo seize and throw the doubts of man;Impassion’d logic, which outranThe hearer in its fiery course;

High nature amorous of the good,But touch’d with no ascetic gloom;And passion pure in snowy bloomThro’ all the years of April blood;

A love of freedom rarely felt,Of freedom in her regal seatOf England, not the schoolboy heat,The blind hysterics of the Celt;

And manhood fused with female graceIn such a sort, the child would twine,A trustful hand, unasked, in thine,And find his comfort in thy face;

All these have been, and thee mine eyesHave look’d on: if they look’d in vainMy shame is greater who remain,Nor let thy wisdom make me wise.

Words in this poem

seraphic a.
Of or pertaining to a seraph; becoming, or suitable to, a seraph; angelic; sublime; pure; refined. [Cf. F. séraphique.]
ascetic a.
Extremely rigid in self-denial and devotions; austere; severe.
snowy a.
White like snow.
schoolboy n.
A boy belonging to, or attending, a school.
trustful a.
Full of trust; trusting.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Heart-affluence in discursive talk 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, Heart-affluence in discursive talk, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-107.html, id L18467.

Form and metre

Heart-affluence in discursive talk is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 33% 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. 1 ABBA talkA · dryB · eyeB · walkA
  2. 2 ABBA forceA · manB · outranB · courseA
  3. 3 ABBA goodA · gloomB · bloomB · bloodA
  4. 4 ABBA feltA · seatB · heatB · celtA
  5. 5 ABBA graceA · twineB · thineB · faceA
  6. 6 ABBA eyesA · vainB · remainB · wiseA
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.

LineSyl.Stress
Heart-affluence in discursive talk8·/˘·˘/˘·
From household fountains never dry;8·/·/˘/˘·
The critic clearness of an eye,8·/˘/˘···
That saw thro’ all the Muses’ walk;8·····/˘·
Seraphic intellect and force8···/˘···
To seize and throw the doubts of man;8········
Impassion’d logic, which outran8˘/˘/˘·˘/
The hearer in its fiery course;8·/˘··/˘·
High nature amorous of the good,8·/˘/˘···
But touch’d with no ascetic gloom;8····˘/˘·
And passion pure in snowy bloom8·/˘··/˘·
Thro’ all the years of April blood;8·····/˘·
A love of freedom rarely felt,8···/˘/˘·
Of freedom in her regal seat8·/˘··/˘·
Of England, not the schoolboy heat,8·/˘··/··
The blind hysterics of the Celt;8···/˘···
And manhood fused with female grace8·/···/··
In such a sort, the child would twine,8········
A trustful hand, unasked, in thine,8·/˘·····
And find his comfort in thy face;8···/˘···
All these have been, and thee mine eyes8········
Have look’d on: if they look’d in vain8········
My shame is greater who remain,8···/˘·˘/
Nor let thy wisdom make me wise.8···/˘···

On this poem

Hallam's character and accomplishments are recited. Richness of conversation, much imported from an intellectual home; with critical powers over all poetry. Keen and rapid thought displayed in logical argument. Delighting in what is good, but not ascetic, and pure in life. Loving freedom, but without

"The blind hysterics of the Celt,"

and uniting manliness with female grace, which made him such a favourite with children.

If the survivor, who had seen and admired all these qualities, had not allowed such wisdom to make him wise, then shame be on him!
Notes from the edition 8

Section introductions from Alfred Gatty, <i>A Key to Lord Tennyson's “In Memoriam”</i>, 4th ed. (George Bell &amp; 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.

  1. Stanza 1 [My father wrote to Henry Hallam

    s

    on February 14, 1834: "That you intend to print some of my friend's remains (tho' only for private circulation) has given me greater pleasure than anything I have experi- enced for a length of time. I attempted to draw up a memoir of his life and character, but I failed to do him justice. I failed even to please myself. I could scarcely have pleased you. I hope to be able at a future period to concentrate whatever powers I may possess on the construction of some tribute to those high speculative endowments and com- prehensive sympathies which I ever loved to contemplate; but at present, tho' somewhat ashamed at my own weakness, I find the object yet is too near me to permit of any very accurate delineation. You, with your clear insight into human nature, may perhaps not wonder that in the dearest service I could have been employed in, I should be found most deficient.... I know not whether among the prose pieces you would include the one which he was accustomed to call his Theo- dicean Essay. I am inclined to think it does great honour to his originality of thought. Among the poems — if you print the one en- titled Timbuctoo — I would request you, for my sake, to omit the initiatory note. The poem is everyway so much better than that wild and unmethodized performance of my own, that even his praise on such a subject

    would be painful." 1 The judgment on Hallam of his contemporaries coincided with that of my father. See Memoir, i. 105-108. — ED.] [Hallam Tennyson]
  2. Stanza 1, line 1 Heart- affluence in discursive talk

    From household fountains never dry. [Cf. The Princess, n. p. 34:

    and betwixt them blossom'd up From out a common vein of memory Sweet household talk, and phrases of the hearth, And far allusion.

    See also Coleridge, Dejection, an Ode: " I may not hope from outward forms to win The passion and the life, whose fountains are within."

    ED.] [Tennyson]
  3. Stanza 1, line 2 ' from household fountains ': not ' imported from an intellectual home ' (Gatty), nor, I think, defining the talk as about domestic subjects (C. E. Benham), but 'springing from within,' * original.' Cf. the similar use of oticodev. [Bradley]
  4. Stanza 2, line 2 Cf. xcv. 29, 30, and xcvi. 13. [Bradley]
  5. Stanza 4, line 1 ' rarely': as in XCI. 2, I presume. [Bradley]
  6. Stanza 4, line 4 Cf. cxxvn. 7: and, for an exaggerated dramatic ex- pression, the * Tory member's elder son ' in the Conclusion of the Princess. [Bradley]
  7. Stanza 6, line 4 Nor let thy wisdom make me wise. If I do not let thy wisdom make me wise. [Tennyson]
  8. Stanza 6, line 4 Almost repeated in the last line of the Prologue. [Bradley]

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More by Alfred Tennyson

In Memoriam A.H.H.Idylls of the KingThe Princess: A MedleyMaud, and Other PoemsThe Early Poems