Her eyes are homes of silent prayer
Her eyes are homes of silent prayer,Nor other thought her mind admitsBut, he was dead, and there he sits,And he that brought him back is there.
Then one deep love doth supersedeAll other, when her ardent gazeRoves from the living brother’s face.And rests upon the Life indeed.
All subtle thought, all curious fears,Borne down by gladness so complete,She bows, she bathes the Saviour’s feetWith costly spikenard and with tears.
Thrice blest whose lives are faithful prayers,Whose loves in higher love endure;What souls possess themselves so pure,Or is there blessedness like theirs?
Words in this poem
- supersede v. t.
- To come, or be placed, in the room of; to replace. [L. supersedere, supersessum, to sit above, be superior to, forbear, omit; super above + sedere to sit: cf. F. superséder. See Sit, and cf. Surcease.]
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
- blessedness n.
- The state of being blessed; happiness; felicity; bliss; heavenly joys; the favor of God.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Her eyes are homes of silent prayer 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, Her eyes are homes of silent prayer, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-32.html, id L18392.
Form and metre
Her eyes are homes of silent prayer 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 94%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 25% 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 prayerA · admitsB · sitsB · thereA
- 2 ABBA supersedeA · gazeB · faceB · indeedA
- 3 ABBA fearsA · completeB · feetB · tearsA
- 4 ABBA prayersA · endureB · pureB · theirsA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Her eyes are homes of silent prayer, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Nor other thought her mind admits | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| But, he was dead, and there he sits, | 8 | ········ |
| And he that brought him back is there. | 8 | ········ |
| Then one deep love doth supersede | 8 | ······˘/ |
| All other, when her ardent gaze | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Roves from the living brother’s face. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And rests upon the Life indeed. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| All subtle thought, all curious fears, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Borne down by gladness so complete, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| She bows, she bathes the Saviour’s feet | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With costly spikenard and with tears. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Thrice blest whose lives are faithful prayers, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Whose loves in higher love endure; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| What souls possess themselves so pure, | 8 | ··˘/˘/·· |
| Or is there blessedness like theirs? | 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.