Whatever I have said or sung
Whatever I have said or sung,Some bitter notes my harp would give,Yea, tho’ there often seem’d to liveA contradiction on the tongue,
Yet Hope had never lost her youth;She did but look thro’ dimmer eyes;Or Love but play’d with gracious lies,Because he felt so fix’d in truth:
And if the song were full of care,He breathed the spirit of the song;And if the words were sweet and strongHe set his royal signet there;
Abiding with me till I sailTo seek thee on the mystic deeps,And this electric force, that keepsA thousand pulses dancing, fail.
Words in this poem
- signet n.
- A seal; especially, in England, the seal used by the sovereign in sealing private letters and grants that pass by bill under the sign manual; -- called also privy signet. [OF. signet a signet, F., a bookmark, dim. of signe. See Sign, n., and cf. Sennet.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Whatever I have said or sung 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, Whatever I have said or sung, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-123.html, id L18483.
Form and metre
Whatever I have said or sung 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 96%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 25% 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 sungA · giveB · liveB · tongueA
- 2 ABBA youthA · eyesB · liesB · truthA
- 3 ABBA careA · songB · strongB · thereA
- 4 ABBA sailA · deepsB · keepsB · failA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Whatever I have said or sung, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Some bitter notes my harp would give, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Yea, tho’ there often seem’d to live | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A contradiction on the tongue, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Yet Hope had never lost her youth; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| She did but look thro’ dimmer eyes; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or Love but play’d with gracious lies, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Because he felt so fix’d in truth: | 8 | ········ |
| And if the song were full of care, | 8 | ········ |
| He breathed the spirit of the song; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And if the words were sweet and strong | 8 | ········ |
| He set his royal signet there; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Abiding with me till I sail | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| To seek thee on the mystic deeps, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And this electric force, that keeps | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| A thousand pulses dancing, fail. | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
On this poem
And if Love "play'd with gracious lies," suggested difficulties, this Love had only dared to do so
"Because he felt so fixed in truth."
Love sustained him when his song was "full of care;" and Love's signet marked it whenever it was "sweet and strong;" and he implores Love to abide with him till he joins his friend "on the mystic deeps," when his own electric brain no longer "keeps a thousand pulses dancing."
Notes from the edition 5
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, line 1 'said*: in conversation with friends (C. E. B.). [Bradley]
- Stanza 1, line 2 One naturally takes this to be the principal clause of a sentence; when line 5 will be the principal clause of another sentence. But, if this were so, it seems almost impossible that the second sentence could begin with ' Yea, tho' ': and I cannot help thinking that the first five lines form only one sentence, of which line 5 is the principal clause. In that case line 2 may be a parenthesis explaining line i, or it may possibly be an ungrammatical way of say- ing, * Whatever bitter notes my harp might give,' * which ' being understood after * notes.' [Bradley]
- Stanza 2, line 3 Cf. XLVIII. 7-9.
' play'd,' etc.: ' played gracefully with lies.' Perhaps the idea that his friend had forgotten him might be an example. [Bradley] - Stanza 4, line 1 Cf. cm. [Bradley]
- Stanza 4, line 3 'electric': cf. cxx. 3. [Bradley]
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