Thou comest, much wept for: such a breeze
Thou comest, much wept for: such a breezeCompell’d thy canvas, and my prayerWas as the whisper of an airTo breathe thee over lonely seas.
For I in spirit saw thee moveThro’ circles of the bounding sky;Week after week: the days go by:Come quick, thou bringest all I love.
Henceforth, wherever thou may’st roam,My blessing, like a line of light,Is on the waters day and night,And like a beacon guards thee home.
So may whatever tempest marsMid-ocean, spare thee, sacred bark;And balmy drops in summer darkSlide from the bosom of the stars.
So kind an office hath been done,Such precious relics brought by thee;The dust of him I shall not seeTill all my widow’d race be run.
Words in this poem
- henceforth adv.
- From this time forward; henceforward.
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- balmy a.
- Having the qualities of balm; odoriferous; aromatic; assuaging; soothing; refreshing; mild.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Thou comest, much wept for: such a breeze 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, Thou comest, much wept for: such a breeze, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-17.html, id L18377.
Form and metre
Thou comest, much wept for: such a breeze 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 92%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 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 breezeA · prayerB · airB · seasA
- 2 ABBA moveA · skyB · byB · loveA
- 3 ABBA roamA · lightB · nightB · homeA
- 4 ABBA marsA · barkB · darkB · starsA
- 5 ABBA doneA · theeB · seeB · runA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thou comest, much wept for: such a breeze | 9 | ········· |
| Compell’d thy canvas, and my prayer | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Was as the whisper of an air | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To breathe thee over lonely seas. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For I in spirit saw thee move | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thro’ circles of the bounding sky; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Week after week: the days go by: | 8 | ········ |
| Come quick, thou bringest all I love. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Henceforth, wherever thou may’st roam, | 8 | //˘/˘··· |
| My blessing, like a line of light, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Is on the waters day and night, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And like a beacon guards thee home. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| So may whatever tempest mars | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Mid-ocean, spare thee, sacred bark; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And balmy drops in summer dark | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Slide from the bosom of the stars. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| So kind an office hath been done, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Such precious relics brought by thee; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| The dust of him I shall not see | 8 | ········ |
| Till all my widow’d race be run. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
On this poem
"thro' circles of the bounding sky"--
the horizon at sea being always circular (see P. xii., 3)--and he would wish its speedy arrival, inasmuch as it brings "all I love."
For doing this, he invokes a blessing upon all its future voyages. It is now bringing
"The dust of him I shall not see Till all my widowed race be run."
Notes from the edition 6
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 2 'and my prayer,' etc., explains ' such a breeze,' etc. [Bradley]
- Stanza 2, line 2 Cf. XI. 12, xii. 9. Here the 'circle' is the circular horizon. [Bradley]
- Stanza 2, line 4 Apparently he goes back to the time of waiting, when he counted the weeks and days, and longed for the arrival of the ship. Mr. Benham, however, supposes that the ship has not yet quite arrived, and that the poet is expressing his present desire for its arrival. This is perhaps the more natural interpretation, if we suppose the ship to be signalled some days before it comes into port. [Bradley]
- Stanza 3, line 2 Cf. Moore, How dear to me: ' And as I watch the line of light that plays,' etc. (G. A. C.). [Bradley]
- Stanza 4, line 1 Cf. ' Sic fratres Helenae,' etc., in Horace's Ode referred o in IX. [Bradley]
- Stanza 4, line 3 Cf. Queen Mab, * Stars, your balmiest influence shed.' Cf. also The Talking Oak,
All starry culmination drop
Balm-dews to bathe thy feet ! and the Lotos-Eaters: Choric Song, i. i«), 20. See ix. 17, 18. [Bradley]
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