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 | ·/˘····/ |
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.