There rolls the deep where grew the tree
There rolls the deep where grew the tree.O earth, what changes hast thou seen!There where the long street roars, hath beenThe stillness of the central sea.
The hills are shadows, and they flowFrom form to form, and nothing stands;They melt like mist, the solid lands,Like clouds they shape themselves and go.
But in my spirit will I dwell,And dream my dream, and hold it true;For tho’ my lips may breathe adieu,I cannot think the thing farewell.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
There rolls the deep where grew the tree 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, There rolls the deep where grew the tree, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-121.html, id L18481.
Form and metre
There rolls the deep where grew the tree is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 17% 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 treeA · seenB · beenB · seaA
- 2 ABBA flowA · standsB · landsB · goA
- 3 ABBA dwellA · trueB · adieuB · farewellA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There rolls the deep where grew the tree. | 8 | ········ |
| O earth, what changes hast thou seen! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| There where the long street roars, hath been | 8 | ········ |
| The stillness of the central sea. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The hills are shadows, and they flow | 8 | ···/···· |
| From form to form, and nothing stands; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| They melt like mist, the solid lands, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Like clouds they shape themselves and go. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| But in my spirit will I dwell, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And dream my dream, and hold it true; | 8 | ········ |
| For tho’ my lips may breathe adieu, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| I cannot think the thing farewell. | 8 | ·/˘····/ |
On this poem
Where the tree now grows, and the long street is full of crowd and noise, there was once
"The stillness of the central sea."
The very hills and solid lands are no more than shadows, or
"Like clouds that shape themselves and go."
But our parting is not for ever,
"For tho' my lips may breathe adieu, I cannot think the thing farewell."
I am sure that we shall meet again.
Notes from the edition 7
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 Geologic changes. [All material things are unsubstantial, yet there is that in
myself which assures me that the spiritual part of man abides, and that we shall meet again.] l [Tennyson] - Stanza 1, line 4 The stillness of the central sea. Balloonists say that even in a storm the middle sea is noiseless.
[Professor George Darwin writes: "People always talk at sea of the howling of the wind and lashing of the sea, but it is the ship that makes it all. A man clinging to a spar in a heavy sea would only hear a little gentle swishing from the ' white horses.' " — ED.] [Tennyson] - Stanza 1, line 1 G.A.C. compares Job, xiv. n, 18,19: "The waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and dryeth up.... The mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place: the waters wear the stones; thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth ": and 2 Henry IV. in. i. 45:
O God ! that one might read the book of fate,
And see the revolution of the times
Make mountains level, and the continent,
Weary of solid firmness, melt itself
Into the sea; and, other times, to see
The beachy girdle of the Ocean
Too wide for Neptune's hips !
With which cf. Sonnet 64. [Bradley] - Stanza 2, line 1 ' flow,' ' nothing stands ': cf. irdvra /kt, ovdtv frfvet. [Bradley]
- Stanza 3, line 3 For tho* my lips may breathe adieu, I cannot think the thing farewell. [Cf. note to LVII. iv., and the poem Frater Ave atque Vale. — ED.] [Hallam Tennyson]
- Stanza 3, line 1 ' my spirit ': which testifies to permanence. [Bradley]
- Stanza 3, line 3 Contrast LVIL, last stanza. [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.