Old Yew, which graspest at the stones
Old Yew, which graspest at the stonesThat name the under-lying dead,Thy fibres net the dreamless head;Thy roots are wrapt about the bones.
The seasons bring the flower again,And bring the firstling to the flock;And in the dusk of thee, the clockBeats out the little lives of men.
O! not for thee the glow, the bloom,Who changest not in any gale!Nor branding summer suns availTo touch thy thousand years of gloom.
And gazing on the sullen tree,Sick for thy stubborn hardihood,I seem to fail from out my blood,And grow incorporate into thee.
Words in this poem
- dreamless a.
- Free from, or without, dreams. Camden.
- firstling n.
- The first produce or offspring; -- said of animals, especially domestic animals; as, the firstlings of his flock. [First + -ling.]
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- hardihood n.
- Boldness, united with firmness and constancy of mind; bravery; intrepidity; also, audaciousness; impudence. [Hardy + -hood.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Old Yew, which graspest at the stones 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, Old Yew, which graspest at the stones, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-2.html, id L18362.
Form and metre
Old Yew, which graspest at the stones 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 95%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end. Rhymes that have moved apart since the poem was written: loved / removed, given / heaven, house / vows, eyes / paradise, lost / most and 4 more.
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 stonesA · deadB · headB · bonesA
- 2 ABBA againA · flockB · clockB · menA
- 3 ABBA bloomA · galeB · availB · gloomA
- 4 ABBA treeA · hardihoodB · bloodB · theeA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Old Yew, which graspest at the stones | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That name the under-lying dead, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thy fibres net the dreamless head; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Thy roots are wrapt about the bones. | 8 | ········ |
| The seasons bring the flower again, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘/ |
| And bring the firstling to the flock; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And in the dusk of thee, the clock | 8 | ········ |
| Beats out the little lives of men. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| O! not for thee the glow, the bloom, | 8 | ········ |
| Who changest not in any gale! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Nor branding summer suns avail | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| To touch thy thousand years of gloom. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And gazing on the sullen tree, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Sick for thy stubborn hardihood, | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| I seem to fail from out my blood, | 8 | ········ |
| And grow incorporate into thee. | 9 | ··˘/˘···· |
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.