To night the winds began to rise
To night the winds began to riseAnd roar from yonder dropping day:The last red leaf is whirl’d away,The rooks are blown about the skies;
The forest crack’d, the waters curl’d,The cattle huddled on the lea;And wildly dash’d on tower and treeThe sunbeam strikes along the world:
And but for fancies, which averThat all thy motions gently passAthwart a plane of molten glass,I scarce could brook the strain and stir
That makes the barren branches loud;And but for fear it is not so,The wild unrest that lives in woeWould dote and pore on yonder cloud
That rises upward always higher,And onward drags a labouring breast,And topples round the dreary west,A looming bastion fringed with fire.
Words in this poem
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- sunbeam n.
- A beam or ray of the sun. [AS. sunnebeam.]
- aver n.
- A work horse, or working ox. [OF. aver domestic animal, whence LL. averia, pl. cattle. See Habit, and cf. Average.]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- unrest n.
- Want of rest or repose; unquietness; sleeplessness; uneasiness; disquietude.
- dote n.
- A marriage portion. See 1st Dot, n. Wyatt. [See Dot dowry.]
- labouring a.
- That labors; performing labor; esp., performing coarse, heavy work, not requiring skill also, set apart for labor; as, laboring days.
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- looming n.
- The indistinct and magnified appearance of objects seen in particular states of the atmosphere. See Mirage.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To night the winds began to rise 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, To night the winds began to rise, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-15.html, id L18375.
Form and metre
To night the winds began to rise 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 96%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 35% 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 riseA · dayB · awayB · skiesA
- 2 ABBA curl'dA · leaB · treeB · worldA
- 3 ABBA averA · passB · glassB · stirA
- 4 ABBA loudA · soB · woeB · cloudA
- 5 ABBA higherA · breastB · westB · fireA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| To night the winds began to rise | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And roar from yonder dropping day: | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The last red leaf is whirl’d away, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The rooks are blown about the skies; | 8 | ········ |
| The forest crack’d, the waters curl’d, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The cattle huddled on the lea; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And wildly dash’d on tower and tree | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| The sunbeam strikes along the world: | 8 | ·/··˘/·· |
| And but for fancies, which aver | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| That all thy motions gently pass | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Athwart a plane of molten glass, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| I scarce could brook the strain and stir | 8 | ········ |
| That makes the barren branches loud; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And but for fear it is not so, | 8 | ········ |
| The wild unrest that lives in woe | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Would dote and pore on yonder cloud | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That rises upward always higher, | 9 | ·/˘/˘/·/˘ |
| And onward drags a labouring breast, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And topples round the dreary west, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A looming bastion fringed with fire. | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
On this poem
"But for fancies which aver That all thy motions gently pass Athwart a plane of molten glass, I scarce could brook the strain and stir That makes the barren branches loud."
Yet, in fear that it may not be so--the sea calm and the wind still--"the wild unrest" would lead him to "dote and pore on" the threatening cloud, and the fiery sunset.
Notes from the edition 3
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 [The stormy night, except it were for my fear for the "sacred bark," would be in sympathy with me. — ED.] [Hallam Tennyson]
- Stanza 1, line 2 And roar from yonder dropping day. From the West. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 3, line 3 Athwart a plane of molten glass. A calm sea. [Tennyson]
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.