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 | ·····/˘· |
On this poem
"In Him is no before." Jehovah is simply, I am, to whom foresight and foreknowledge cannot be attributed, since past and future are equally present.
The morn breaks over Indian seas, because they are to the east of us.
Notes from the edition 8
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 Contrast XXII. and XXIII. His object in following the path is no longer to meet the Shadow, though he would desire to meet it at once if further life meant the decay of Love. [Bradley]
- Stanza 2 And if that eye which watches guilt, etc. The Eternal Now. I AM. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 3, line 4 And Love the indifference to be. [And that the present Love will end in future indifference. — ED.] [Hallam Tennyson]
- Stanza 3, line 2 Cf. Princess, m.:
Let there be light, and there was light: 'tis so: For was, and is, and will be, are but is; And all creation is one act at once, The birth of light: but we that are not all, As parts, can see but parts, now this, now that, And live, perforce, from thought to thought, and make One act a phantom of succession: thus Our weakness somehow shapes the shadow, Time. The idea is repeated in The Ancient Sage. It is to be found in many authors, e.g. Augustine's Conf. xm. 44, IX. 24, and Browne's Rel. Med. I. 1 1 (G. A. C,)- There is a curious coincidence of phrase in Marston's Sophonisba, II. ii., * Gods naught foresee, but see, for to their eyes Naught is to come or past.' [Bradley] - Stanza 3, line 4 'See, in the Love that is, the indifference that will be.' [Bradley]
- Stanza 4, line 2 Then might I find, ere yet the morn Breaks hither over Indian seas. [Cf. Midsummer-Nighf s Dream, n. ii. 10, and Comus, 140:
" Ere the blabbing eastern scout, The nice morn on the Indian steep, From her cabin'd loophole peep." Then might 1 "was in the original MS. So might /.—ED.] my proper scorn, scorn of myself. [Tennyson] - Stanza 4, line 1 First ed.: 'So might I.,,.' [Bradley]
- Stanza 4, line 4 'shroud': first ed., 'cloak'; 'proper scorn': self- scorn. [Bradley]
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