The time draws near the birth of Christ
The time draws near the birth of Christ:The moon is hid; the night is still;The Christmas bells from hill to hillAnswer each other in the mist.
Four voices of four hamlets round,From far and near, on mead and moor,Swell out and fail, as if a doorWere shut between me and the sound:
Each voice four changes on the wind,That now dilate, and now decrease,Peace and goodwill, goodwill and peace,Peace and goodwill, to all mankind.
This year I slept and woke with pain,I almost wish’d no more to wake,And that my hold on life would breakBefore I heard those bells again:
But they my troubled spirit rule,For they controll’d me when a boy;They bring me sorrow touch’d with joy,The merry merry bells of Yule.
Words in this poem
- yule n.
- Christmas or Christmastide; the feast of the Nativity of our Savior. [OE. yol, ýol, AS. geól; akin to geóla December or January, Icel. jol Yule, Ylir the name of a winter month, Sw. jul Christmas, Dan. juul, Goth. jiuleis November]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The time draws near the birth of Christ 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, The time draws near the birth of Christ, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-28.html, id L18388.
Form and metre
The time draws near the birth of Christ 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 88%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 15% 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 christA · stillB · hillB · mistA
- 2 ABBA roundA · moorB · doorB · soundA
- 3 ABBA windA · decreaseB · peaceB · mankindA
- 4 ABBA painA · wakeB · breakB · againA
- 5 ABBA ruleA · boyB · joyB · yuleA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The time draws near the birth of Christ: | 8 | ········ |
| The moon is hid; the night is still; | 8 | ········ |
| The Christmas bells from hill to hill | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Answer each other in the mist. | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Four voices of four hamlets round, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| From far and near, on mead and moor, | 8 | ········ |
| Swell out and fail, as if a door | 8 | ········ |
| Were shut between me and the sound: | 8 | ········ |
| Each voice four changes on the wind, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That now dilate, and now decrease, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Peace and goodwill, goodwill and peace, | 8 | ··////·· |
| Peace and goodwill, to all mankind. | 8 | ··//··// |
| This year I slept and woke with pain, | 8 | ········ |
| I almost wish’d no more to wake, | 8 | ·/······ |
| And that my hold on life would break | 8 | ········ |
| Before I heard those bells again: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| But they my troubled spirit rule, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| For they controll’d me when a boy; | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| They bring me sorrow touch’d with joy, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The merry merry bells of Yule. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
On this poem
But a calmer spirit seems to come over him: as he listens to the Christmas peals rung at four neighbouring churches, and the sound soothes him with tender associations:
"But they my troubled spirit rule, For they controll'd me when a boy; They bring me sorrow touch'd with joy, The merry, merry bells of Yule."
Yule is Christmas, a jubilee which brings glad tidings of great joy to all people.
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 2, line 3 ' Swell out and fail,' as the wind (9) rises and falls, for mere changes in loudness would hardly produce the effect so well described in the next words. [Bradley]
- Stanza 2, line 4 I understand that each of the four churches has four bells (5, 9, and CIV.), and that these four bells seem to be ringing * peace and goodwill,' and then ' goodwill and peace,' and then 'peace and goodwill,' and then 'to all mankind.' Each syllable, that is, in lines n, 12 represents the sound of a bell. For a suggestion as to the possible churches see Rawnsley, Memories of the Tennysons, p. 12. [Bradley]
- Stanza 4, line 1 'This year.' The expression suggests at first that the occasion is the second Christmas after the death of his friend. But see xxx. 15, 16. [Bradley]
- Stanza 5, line 4 The merry merry bells of Yule. They always used to ring on Xmas Eve. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 5, line 2 He is at his father's house, where his childhood was spent. [Bradley]
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