Still onward winds the dreary way
Still onward winds the dreary way;I with it; for I long to proveNo lapse of moons can canker Love,Whatever fickle tongues may say.
And if that eye which watches guiltAnd goodness, and hath power to seeWithin the green the moulder’d tree,And towers fall’n as soon as built--
Oh, if indeed that eye foreseeOr see (in Him is no before)In more of life true life no more,And Love the indifference to be,
So might I find, ere yet the mornBreaks hither over Indian seas,That Shadow waiting with the keys,To cloak me from my proper scorn.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- foresee v. i.
- To have or exercise foresight.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Still onward winds the dreary way 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, Still onward winds the dreary way, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-26.html, id L18386.
Form and metre
Still onward winds the dreary way 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 87%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 31% 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 wayA · proveB · loveB · sayA
- 2 ABBA guiltA · seeB · treeB · builtA
- 3 ABBA foreseeA · beforeB · moreB · beA
- 4 ABBA mornA · seasB · keysB · scornA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Still onward winds the dreary way; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I with it; for I long to prove | 8 | ········ |
| No lapse of moons can canker Love, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Whatever fickle tongues may say. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And if that eye which watches guilt | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And goodness, and hath power to see | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| Within the green the moulder’d tree, | 8 | ········ |
| And towers fall’n as soon as built-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Oh, if indeed that eye foresee | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Or see (in Him is no before) | 8 | ········ |
| In more of life true life no more, | 8 | ········ |
| And Love the indifference to be, | 8 | ···˘/˘·· |
| So might I find, ere yet the morn | 8 | ········ |
| Breaks hither over Indian seas, | 8 | ·/˘·/˘˘· |
| That Shadow waiting with the keys, | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| To cloak me from my proper scorn. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
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.