Calm is the morn without a sound
Calm is the morn without a sound,Calm as to suit a calmer grief,And only thro’ the faded leafThe chesnut pattering to the ground:
Calm and deep peace on this high wold,And on these dews that drench the furze,And all the silvery gossamersThat twinkle into green and gold:
Calm and still light on yon great plainThat sweeps with all its autumn bowers,And crowded farms and lessening towers,To mingle with the bounding main:
Calm and deep peace in this wide air,These leaves that redden to the fall;And in my heart, if calm at all,If any calm, a calm despair:
Calm on the seas, and silver sleep,And waves that sway themselves in rest,And dead calm in that noble breastWhich heaves but with the heaving deep.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- calmer n.
- One who, or that which, makes calm.
- wold n.
- A wood; a forest. [OE. wold, wald, AS. weald, wald, a wood, forest; akin to OFries. & OS. wald, D. woud, G. wald, Icel. völlr, a field, and probably to Gr. va a garden, inclosure.]
- twinkle v. i.
- To open and shut the eye rapidly; to blink; to wink. [OE. twinklen, AS. twinclian; akin to OE. twinken to blink, wink, G. zwinken, zwinkern, and perhaps to E. twitch.]
- heaves n.
- A disease of horses, characterized by difficult breathing, with heaving of the flank, wheezing, flatulency, and a peculiar cough; broken wind.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Calm is the morn without a sound 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, Calm is the morn without a sound, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-11.html, id L18371.
Form and metre
Calm is the morn without a sound 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 88%). 98% 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 soundA · griefB · leafB · groundA
- 2 ABBA woldA · furzeB · gossamersB · goldA
- 3 ABBA plainA · bowersB · towersB · mainA
- 4 ABBA airA · fallB · allB · despairA
- 5 ABBA sleepA · restB · breastB · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Calm is the morn without a sound, | 8 | ········ |
| Calm as to suit a calmer grief, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And only thro’ the faded leaf | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The chesnut pattering to the ground: | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| Calm and deep peace on this high wold, | 8 | ········ |
| And on these dews that drench the furze, | 8 | ········ |
| And all the silvery gossamers | 9 | ···/˘˘/˘˘ |
| That twinkle into green and gold: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Calm and still light on yon great plain | 8 | ········ |
| That sweeps with all its autumn bowers, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| And crowded farms and lessening towers, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘/ |
| To mingle with the bounding main: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Calm and deep peace in this wide air, | 8 | ········ |
| These leaves that redden to the fall; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And in my heart, if calm at all, | 8 | ········ |
| If any calm, a calm despair: | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Calm on the seas, and silver sleep, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And waves that sway themselves in rest, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And dead calm in that noble breast | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Which heaves but with the heaving deep. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
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