’Tis well, ’tis something, we may stand
’Tis well, ’tis something, we may standWhere he in English earth is laid,And from his ashes may be madeThe violet of his native land.
’Tis little; but it looks in truthAs if the quiet bones were blestAmong familiar names to restAnd in the places of his youth.
Come then, pure hands, and bear the headThat sleeps or wears the mask of sleep,And come, whatever loves to weep,And hear the ritual of the dead.
Ah! yet, ev’n yet, if this might be,I, falling on his faithful heart,Would breathing thro’ his lips impartThe life that almost dies in me:
That dies not, but endures with pain,And slowly forms the firmer mind,Treasuring the look it cannot find,The words that are not heard again.
About this text
’Tis well, ’tis something, we may stand 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, ’Tis well, ’tis something, we may stand, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-18.html, id L18378.
Form and metre
’Tis well, ’tis something, we may stand 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%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 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 standA · laidB · madeB · landA
- 2 ABBA truthA · blestB · restB · youthA
- 3 ABBA headA · sleepB · weepB · deadA
- 4 ABBA beA · heartB · impartB · meA
- 5 ABBA painA · mindB · findB · againA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| ’Tis well, ’tis something, we may stand | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Where he in English earth is laid, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And from his ashes may be made | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The violet of his native land. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| ’Tis little; but it looks in truth | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| As if the quiet bones were blest | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Among familiar names to rest | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And in the places of his youth. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Come then, pure hands, and bear the head | 8 | ········ |
| That sleeps or wears the mask of sleep, | 8 | ········ |
| And come, whatever loves to weep, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And hear the ritual of the dead. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Ah! yet, ev’n yet, if this might be, | 8 | ········ |
| I, falling on his faithful heart, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Would breathing thro’ his lips impart | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The life that almost dies in me: | 8 | ···/···· |
| That dies not, but endures with pain, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And slowly forms the firmer mind, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Treasuring the look it cannot find, | 8 | /˘···˘/· |
| The words that are not heard again. | 8 | ······˘/ |
On this poem
It is something, worth the mourner's having, that he can stand on English ground where his friend has been laid, and know that the violet will spring from his ashes.
Laertes says of Ophelia,
"Lay her in the earth And from her fair and unpolluted flesh May violets spring!"
A beautiful invitation follows to those, who are sometimes irreverent bearers:
"Come then, pure hands, and bear the head That sleeps or wears the mask of sleep, And come, whatever loves to weep, And hear the ritual of the dead."
Even yet, before the grave is closed, he would like, as Elisha did on the Shunammite woman's child, to cast himself, and
"thro' his lips impart The life that almost dies in me;"
but still he resolves to form the firmer resolution, and to submit; though meanwhile treasuring the look and words that are past and gone for ever.
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, line 2 Where he in English earth is laid. Clevedon.
The violet of his native land. Cf.
" Lay her in the earth, And from her fair and unpolluted flesh May violets spring."
Hamlet, v, i. 261. [Tennyson] - Stanza 1, line 1 G. A. C. compares with this and X. n ff. Ovid, Trtst. [Bradley]
- Stanza 1, line 1 ii. 53-6:
Est aliquid, fatove suo ferrove cadentem
In solida moriens ponere corpus humo: Et mandare suis aliquid, sperare sepulcra, Et non aequoreis piscibus esse cibum. [Bradley] - Stanza 1, line 3 It seems likely, from the use of ' ashes,' and perhaps of 'blest' in line 6, that there is a reminiscence, not of Hamlet V. i. 262, but of Persius, Sat. I. 39, quoted by Collins,
Nunc non e tumulo fortunataque favilla Nascentur violae ? [Bradley] - Stanza 2, line 1 Cf. X. it if. and Introduction, p. 3. [Bradley]
- Stanza 3, line 3 'whatever loves': the construction is an echo of XVII. 13. [Bradley]
- Stanza 4, line 2 Cf. 2 Kings, iv. 34 (G. A. C).
• [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.