With such compelling cause to grieve
With such compelling cause to grieveAs daily vexes household peace,And chains regret to his decease,How dare we keep our Christmas-eve;
Which brings no more a welcome guestTo enrich the threshold of the nightWith shower’d largess of delight,In dance and song and game and jest.
Yet go, and while the holly boughsEntwine the cold baptismal font,Make one wreath more for Use and WontThat guard the portals of the house;
Old sisters of a day gone by,Gray nurses, loving nothing new;Why should they miss their yearly dueBefore their time? They too will die.
Words in this poem
- largess n.
- Liberality; generosity; bounty. [F. largesse, fr. large. See Large, a.]
- jest n.
- A deed; an action; a gest. [OE. jeste, geste, deed, action, story, tale, OF. geste, LL. gesta, orig., exploits, neut. pl. from L. gestus, p. p. of gerere to bear, carry, accomplish, perfor]
- entwine v. t.
- To twine, twist, or wreathe together or round. [Pref. en- + twine. Cf. Intwine.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
With such compelling cause to grieve 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, With such compelling cause to grieve, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-29.html, id L18389.
Form and metre
With such compelling cause to grieve 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 93%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 38% 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 grieveA · peaceB · deceaseB · eveA
- 2 ABBA guestA · nightB · delightB · jestA
- 3 ABBA boughsA · fontB · wontB · houseA
- 4 ABBA byA · newB · dueB · dieA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| With such compelling cause to grieve | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| As daily vexes household peace, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| And chains regret to his decease, | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| How dare we keep our Christmas-eve; | 8 | ····//˘· |
| Which brings no more a welcome guest | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To enrich the threshold of the night | 9 | ·˘/·/···· |
| With shower’d largess of delight, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| In dance and song and game and jest. | 8 | ········ |
| Yet go, and while the holly boughs | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Entwine the cold baptismal font, | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘· |
| Make one wreath more for Use and Wont | 8 | ········ |
| That guard the portals of the house; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Old sisters of a day gone by, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Gray nurses, loving nothing new; | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Why should they miss their yearly due | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Before their time? They too will die. | 8 | ········ |
On this poem
"as daily vexes household peace"--
for death is ever invading some home--how can they venture to keep Christmas Eve as usual? He is absent, who when amongst them was so eminently social. But it must be done. "Use and wont," "old sisters of a day gone by," still demand what has been customary. "They too will die," and new habits succeed.
To the fourteenth chapter of Walter Scott's "Pirate," there is the following motto from "Old Play," which meant Scott's own invention:
"We'll keep our customs. What is law itself But old establish'd custom? What religion (I mean with one half of the men that use it) Save the good use and wont that carries them To worship how and where their fathers worshipp'd? All things resolve to custom. We'll keep ours."
Notes from the edition 6
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 [Original reading of first verse (MS.): With such compelling cause to grieve
As that which drains our days of peace, And fetters thought to his decease, How dare we keep our Christmas-eve.
ED.] [Hallam Tennyson] - Stanza 1 [Original reading of third verse (MS.):
But this — to keep it like the last, To keep it even for his sake; Lest one more link should seem to break, And Death sweep all into the Past.
ED.] [Hallam Tennyson] - Stanza 1, line 2 ' household peace ': our ' household peace '; not ' for death is ever invading some home.' The phrase occurs in Par. Lost, X. 908. [Bradley]
- Stanza 3, line 1 ' Yet go ': he addresses members of the household who are going to decorate the church. [Bradley]
- Stanza 3, line 3 'Use and Wont': Gatty aptly quotes the motto to the Pirate, ch. xiv. [Bradley]
- Stanza 4, line 4 Cf. cv. [Bradley]
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