Oh, wast thou with me, dearest, then
Oh, wast thou with me, dearest, then,While I rose up against my doom,And strove to burst the folded gloom,To bare the eternal Heavens again,
To feel once more, in placid awe,The strong imagination rollA sphere of stars about my soul,In all her motion one with law;
If thou wert with me, and the graveDivide us not, be with me now,And enter in at breast and brow,Till all my blood, a fuller wave,
Be quicken’d with a livelier breath,And like an inconsiderate boy,As in the former flash of joy,I slip the thoughts of life and death;
And all the breeze of Fancy blows,And every dew-drop paints a bow;The wizard lightnings deeply glow,And every thought breaks out a rose.
Words in this poem
- wast
- The second person singular of the verb be, in the indicative mood, imperfect tense; -- now used only in solemn or poetical style.
- placid a.
- Pleased; contented; unruffied; undisturbed; serene; peaceful; tranquil; quiet; gentle. [L. placidus, originally, pleasing, mild, from placere to please: cf. F. placide. See Please.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Oh, wast thou with me, dearest, then 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, Oh, wast thou with me, dearest, then, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-120.html, id L18480.
Form and metre
Oh, wast thou with me, dearest, then 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 90%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 10% 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 thenA · doomB · gloomB · againA
- 2 ABBA aweA · rollB · soulB · lawA
- 3 ABBA graveA · nowB · browB · waveA
- 4 ABBA breathA · boyB · joyB · deathA
- 5 ABBA blowsA · bowB · glowB · roseA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oh, wast thou with me, dearest, then, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| While I rose up against my doom, | 8 | ········ |
| And strove to burst the folded gloom, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To bare the eternal Heavens again, | 10 | ···˘/˘/˘˘/ |
| To feel once more, in placid awe, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The strong imagination roll | 8 | ··˘·˘/˘· |
| A sphere of stars about my soul, | 8 | ········ |
| In all her motion one with law; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| If thou wert with me, and the grave | 8 | ········ |
| Divide us not, be with me now, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| And enter in at breast and brow, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Till all my blood, a fuller wave, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Be quicken’d with a livelier breath, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And like an inconsiderate boy, | 9 | ········· |
| As in the former flash of joy, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I slip the thoughts of life and death; | 8 | ········ |
| And all the breeze of Fancy blows, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And every dew-drop paints a bow; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The wizard lightnings deeply glow, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And every thought breaks out a rose. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
On this poem
This may not refer to any special time, but to the general uneasiness of his feelings before submission had been attained; and he now says,
"If thou wert with me, and the grave Divide us not, be with me now."
Let me again, "like an inconsiderate boy," "slip the thoughts of life and death," give free rein to a speculative imagination; for now, in a higher and better frame of mind, it will be that "every thought breaks out a rose"--a blossom of truth.
Notes from the edition 12
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 doom — that of grief. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 1, line 1 If the punctuation is right, ' wast thou' = ' if thou wert' in 9. If a question is intended, there should be a note of interrogation at the end of 8. There is nothing unlikely in the omission of this note (see on LXXXI.), but perhaps the first interpretation is the more probable. [Bradley]
- Stanza 1, line 2 ' my doom ': of grief. Cf. LXXII. 6. [Bradley]
- Stanza 1, line 3 ' yearn'd ': first ed.: * strove.1 [Bradley]
- Stanza 1, line 4 Cf. in. 6. [Bradley]
- Stanza 4, line 1 Cf. cxvi. 1-8. [Bradley]
- Stanza 4, line 3 * flash': cf. xcv. 36. [Bradley]
- Stanza 4, line 4 * slip ': not ' give free rein to,' but ' dismiss, escape from.' [Bradley]
- Stanza 5, line 2 And every dew-drop paints a bow. Every dew-drop turns into a miniature rainbow. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 5, line 1 Cf. the opening lines of Recollections of the Arabian Nights. [Bradley]
- Stanza 5, line 2 He sees prismatic colours in all the dew-drops. [Bradley]
- Stanza 5, line 3 The reference may possibly be to the Aurora Borealis, not to an exceptional appearance, heightened by fancy, of lightning in the ordinary sense. [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.