Thy converse drew us with delight
Thy converse drew us with delight,The men of rathe and riper years:The feeble soul, a haunt of fears,Forgot his weakness in thy sight.
On thee the loyal-hearted hung,The proud was half disarm’d of pride,Nor cared the serpent at thy sideTo flicker with his treble tongue.
The stern were mild when thou wert by,The flippant put himself to schoolAnd heard thee, and the brazen foolWas soften’d, and he knew not why;
While I, thy dearest, sat apart,And felt thy triumph was as mine;And loved them more, that they were thine,The graceful tact, the Christian art;
Not mine the sweetness or the skill,But mine the love that will not tire,And, born of love, the vague desireThat spurs an imitative will.
Words in this poem
- rathe a.
- Coming before others, or before the usual time; early. [AS. hræ\'eb, hræd, quick, akin to OHG. hrad, Icel. hrathr.]
- flicker v. i.
- To flutter; to flap the wings without flying. [OE. flikeren, flekeren, to flutter, AS. flicerian, flicorian, cf. D. flikkeren to sparkle. Flacker.]
- flippant a.
- Of smooth, fluent, and rapid speech; speaking with ease and rapidity; having a voluble tongue; talkative. [Prov. E. flip to move nimbly; cf. W. llipa soft, limber, pliant, or Icel. fleipa to babble, prattle. Cf. Flip, Fillip, Flap, Flipper.]
- tact n.
- The sense of touch; feeling. [L. tactus a touching, touch, fr. tangere, tactum, to touch: cf. F. tact. See Tangent.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Thy converse drew us with delight 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, Thy converse drew us with delight, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-108.html, id L18468.
Form and metre
Thy converse drew us with delight is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% 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 delightA · yearsB · fearsB · sightA
- 2 ABBA hungA · prideB · sideB · tongueA
- 3 ABBA byA · schoolB · foolB · whyA
- 4 ABBA apartA · mineB · thineB · artA
- 5 ABBA skillA · tireB · desireB · willA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thy converse drew us with delight, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The men of rathe and riper years: | 8 | ········ |
| The feeble soul, a haunt of fears, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Forgot his weakness in thy sight. | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| On thee the loyal-hearted hung, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The proud was half disarm’d of pride, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Nor cared the serpent at thy side | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To flicker with his treble tongue. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The stern were mild when thou wert by, | 8 | ········ |
| The flippant put himself to school | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| And heard thee, and the brazen fool | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Was soften’d, and he knew not why; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| While I, thy dearest, sat apart, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And felt thy triumph was as mine; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And loved them more, that they were thine, | 8 | ········ |
| The graceful tact, the Christian art; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Not mine the sweetness or the skill, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But mine the love that will not tire, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And, born of love, the vague desire | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| That spurs an imitative will. | 8 | ···/˘·˘· |
On this poem
"The men of rathe and riper years;"
both the young and older. He gave confidence to the timid, the true-hearted held to him, and the deceitful were exposed,
"While I, thy dearest, sat apart"
watching these triumphs, and enjoying them as my own; and though not possessing the tact, and art, and sweetness, and skill, yet I seemed to share in them, from the love and admiration which they inspired.
"And, born of love, the vague desire That spurs an imitative will,"
rose in me, and made me wish to do likewise.
Notes from the edition 6
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 2 The men of rathe and riper years. ["Rathe," Anglo-Saxon hrath, "early." Cf. Lancelot and Elaine: " Till rathe she rose." — ED.] [Hallam Tennyson]
- Stanza 1, line 2 ' younger and elder alike.' * Rathe ' is * early.' [Bradley]
- Stanza 2, line 3 * the serpent,' accuser and liar. [Bradley]
- Stanza 2, line 4 Virgil's 'linguis micat ore trisulcis,' Geor. ill. 439. 'double': first ed.: 'treble.' [Bradley]
- Stanza 4, line 1 'nearest': first ed.: 'dearest.' [Bradley]
- Stanza 5, line 1 'Nor': first ed.: 'Not.' [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.