I sing to him that rests below
I sing to him that rests below,And, since the grasses round me wave,I take the grasses of the grave,And make them pipes whereon to blow.
The traveller hears me now and then,And sometimes harshly will he speak;‘This fellow would make weakness weak,And melt the waxen hearts of men.’
Another answers, ‘Let him be,He loves to make parade of pain,That with his piping he may gainThe praise that comes to constancy.’
A third is wroth, ‘Is this an hourFor private sorrow’s barren song,When more and more the people throngThe chairs and thrones of civil power?
A time to sicken and to swoon,When science reaches forth her armsTo feel from world to world, and charmsHer secret from the latest moon?’
Behold, ye speak an idle thing:Ye never knew the sacred dust:I do but sing because I must,And pipe but as the linnets sing:
And unto one her note is gay,For now her little ones have ranged;And unto one her note is changed,Because her brood is stol’n away.
Words in this poem
- whereon adv.
- On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
- piping a.
- Playing on a musical pipe. [From Pipe, v.]
- wroth a.
- Full of wrath; angry; incensed; much exasperated; wrathful. [OE. wroth, wrap, AS. wraedh wroth, crooked, bad; akin to wriedhan to writhe, and to OS. wreedhangry, D. wreed cruel, OHG. reid twisted, Icel. reiedhr angry, Dan]
- sicken v. t.
- To make sick; to disease.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
I sing to him that rests below 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, I sing to him that rests below, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-21.html, id L18381.
Form and metre
I sing to him that rests below is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 99% 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. 18% 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 belowA · waveB · graveB · blowA
- 2 ABBA thenA · speakB · weakB · menA
- 3 ABBA beA · painB · gainB · constancyA
- 4 ABBA hourA · songB · throngB · powerA
- 5 ABBA swoonA · armsB · charmsB · moonA
- 6 ABBA thingA · dustB · mustB · singA
- 7 ABBA gayA · rangedB · changedB · awayA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I sing to him that rests below, | 8 | ········ |
| And, since the grasses round me wave, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I take the grasses of the grave, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And make them pipes whereon to blow. | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| The traveller hears me now and then, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And sometimes harshly will he speak; | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| ‘This fellow would make weakness weak, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And melt the waxen hearts of men.’ | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Another answers, ‘Let him be, | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| He loves to make parade of pain, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| That with his piping he may gain | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The praise that comes to constancy.’ | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| A third is wroth, ‘Is this an hour | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| For private sorrow’s barren song, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| When more and more the people throng | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The chairs and thrones of civil power? | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| A time to sicken and to swoon, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When science reaches forth her arms | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To feel from world to world, and charms | 8 | ········ |
| Her secret from the latest moon?’ | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Behold, ye speak an idle thing: | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Ye never knew the sacred dust: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I do but sing because I must, | 8 | ········ |
| And pipe but as the linnets sing: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And unto one her note is gay, | 8 | ········ |
| For now her little ones have ranged; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And unto one her note is changed, | 8 | ········ |
| Because her brood is stol’n away. | 8 | ······˘/ |
On this poem
The Poet imagines the reproofs, with which passers-by will visit him for his unrestrained grief. He would "make weakness weak:" would parade his pain to court sympathy, and gain credit for constancy; and another says, that a display of private sorrow is quite inappropriate at times, when great political changes impend, and Science every month is evolving some new secret.
He replies, that his song is but like that of the linnet--joyous indeed when her brood first flies, but sad when the nest has been rifled of her young.
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 4, line 3 Cf. for the collocation ol these lines with the next stanza, the lines in Locksley Hall beginning, ' Eye to which all order festers.' [Bradley]
- Stanza 5, line 3 * and charms ': ' Science every month is evolving some new secret ' (Gatty). I take the words with the pre- ceding clause: ' Science is making the most lately discovered moon disclose its nature'; 'moon' being either the same as 'world,' or else = * satellite,' as distinguished irom 'world.' Perhaps Gatty's interpretation is supported by the lines, Each month is various to present The world with some development
(Two Voices], and by the use of 'moons' in xxvi. 3, LXXVII. 8. The other is confirmed by xcvu. 22, and would be made certain by a passage in Memoir, II. 336, where Tennyson is described as saying ' that the spectroscope was destined to make much greater revelations even than it had already made, in charming " Her secret from the latest moon," ' if we were sure that the poet himself used the quotation. Mr. Jacobs thinks there is a reference to the discovery of Neptune, 'substantiated September, 1846' (and so takes 15, 16 to apply to the Chartist movement). This would give a very late date to the section, and of course it is not necessary to suppose that Tennyson refers to any one discovery; but the phrase, 'to feel from world to world/ is beautifully appropriate to the process by which the existence of Neptune was guessed at from the irregularities in the motion of Uranus, and Mr. Eve remarks that two of the satellites of Uranus were re- discovered in 1847. [Bradley] - Stanza 6, line 4 Cf. Ich singe wie der Vogel singt, Der in den Zweigen wohnet, The Harper's Song in Wilhelm Meisters Lehriahre, u. xi. [Bradley]
- Stanza 7, line 1 First ed.: 'And unto one her note.' [Bradley]
- Stanza 7, line 3 Cf. * Sorrow hath changed its note,' Herbert, Josephs Coat. [Bradley]
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