Is it, then, regret for buried time
Is it, then, regret for buried timeThat keenlier in sweet April wakes,And meets the year, and gives and takesThe colours of the crescent prime?
Not all: the songs, the stirring air,The life re-orient out of dust,Cry thro’ the sense to hearten trustIn that which made the world so fair.
Not all regret: the face will shineUpon me, while I muse alone;The dear, dear voice that I have knownWill speak to me of me and mine:
Yet less of sorrow lives in meFor days of happy commune dead;Less yearning for the friendship fled,Than some strong bond which is to be.
Words in this poem
- hearten v. t.
- To encourage; to animate; to incite or stimulate the courage of; to embolden. [From Heart.]
- commune n.
- The commonalty; the common people. [F., fr. commun. See Common.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Is it, then, regret for buried time 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, Is it, then, regret for buried time, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-114.html, id L18474.
Form and metre
Is it, then, regret for buried time is 16 lines in 4 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 8.1 syllables. 38% 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 timeA · wakesB · takesB · primeA
- 2 ABBA airA · dustB · trustB · fairA
- 3 ABBA shineA · aloneB · knownB · mineA
- 4 ABBA meA · deadB · fledB · beA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Is it, then, regret for buried time | 9 | ···˘/·/˘· |
| That keenlier in sweet April wakes, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And meets the year, and gives and takes | 8 | ········ |
| The colours of the crescent prime? | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Not all: the songs, the stirring air, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The life re-orient out of dust, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Cry thro’ the sense to hearten trust | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In that which made the world so fair. | 8 | ········ |
| Not all regret: the face will shine | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Upon me, while I muse alone; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The dear, dear voice that I have known | 8 | ········ |
| Will speak to me of me and mine: | 8 | ········ |
| Yet less of sorrow lives in me | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For days of happy commune dead; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Less yearning for the friendship fled, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Than some strong bond which is to be. | 8 | ········ |
On this poem
Nor is it altogether "regret" that he feels; for the face and the voice of his friend come back; and the voice speaks of me and mine--his sister as well as himself--and he is conscious of
"Less yearning for the friendship fled, Than some strong bond which is to be"--
reunion hereafter.
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 crescent prime, growing spring. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 1, line 3 -the year,' regarded as beginning in spring. Cf.
LXXXIII. [Bradley] - Stanza 2, line 1 * stirring ': with the life of insects. [Bradley]
- Stanza 3, line 1 Cf. LXX. ii. First ed.:
The dear, dear voice that I have known Will speak.
The original lines seem better than the later version, in which ' once ' accentuates the awkwardness of ' have known ' used for ' knew.' [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.