O thou that after toil and storm
O thou that after toil and stormMayst seem to have reach’d a purer air,Whose faith has centre everywhere,Nor cares to fix itself to form,
Leave thou thy sister when she prays,Her early Heaven, her happy views;Nor thou with shadow’d hint confuseA life that leads melodious days.
Her faith thro’ form is pure as thine,Her hands are quicker unto good.Oh, sacred be the flesh and bloodTo which she links a truth divine!
See, thou that countest reason ripeIn holding by the law within,Thou fail not in a world of sin,And ev’n for want of such a type.
Words in this poem
- centre v. i.
- To be placed in a center; to be central.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
O thou that after toil and storm 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, O thou that after toil and storm, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-33.html, id L18393.
Form and metre
O thou that after toil and storm 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%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 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 stormA · airB · everywhereB · formA
- 2 ABBA praysA · viewsB · confuseB · daysA
- 3 ABBA thineA · goodB · bloodB · divineA
- 4 ABBA ripeA · withinB · sinB · typeA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O thou that after toil and storm | 8 | ········ |
| Mayst seem to have reach’d a purer air, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Whose faith has centre everywhere, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Nor cares to fix itself to form, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Leave thou thy sister when she prays, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Her early Heaven, her happy views; | 8 | ·/˘/·/˘· |
| Nor thou with shadow’d hint confuse | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| A life that leads melodious days. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Her faith thro’ form is pure as thine, | 8 | ········ |
| Her hands are quicker unto good. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Oh, sacred be the flesh and blood | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To which she links a truth divine! | 8 | ······˘/ |
| See, thou that countest reason ripe | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| In holding by the law within, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thou fail not in a world of sin, | 8 | ········ |
| And ev’n for want of such a type. | 8 | ········ |
On this poem
It seems to be an address of warning and reproof to a moral pantheist, who fancies that he has attained a higher and purer air, by withholding his faith from all "form," and recognising Deity in everything--his faith having "centre everywhere."
This sceptic is warned from disturbing the pious woman, who is happy in her prayers to a personal God; for they bring an "early heaven" on her life. Her faith is fixed on "form;" and to flesh and blood she has linked a truth divine, by seeing God incarnate in the person of Christ.
The pantheist must take care for himself, that, whilst satisfied
"In holding by the law within,"
the guidance of his own reason, he does not after all fail in a sinful world, "for want of such a type," as the life of Christ on earth affords.
"A life that leads melodious days," is like that of Vopiscus, in his Tiburtine villa, as described by his friend, Statius, I., iii., 20.
--ceu veritus turbare Vopisci Pieriosque dies et habentes carmina somnos.
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, line 3 For the antithesis of 'faith' and 'form' cf. cxxvu. i, and Akbar>s Dream^ where the thought of xxxvi. is also repeated. [Bradley]
- Stanza 2, line 4 A life that leads melodious days. Cf. Statius, Silv. i. 3:
ceu veritus turbare Vopisci Pieriosque dies et habentes carmina somnos. [Tennyson] - Stanza 2, line 2 Her early Heaven ': ' the Heaven of which she was taught in childhood3 (cf. XCVII. 30), not, I think, 'the Heaven n which she already dwells,' as may be suggested by Pope, Elois2 to Abelard, 300, 'And Faith, our early immortality.'
' views ': prospects, that on which she gazes. [Bradley] - Stanza 3, line 1 ' pure ': see 2. [Bradley]
- Stanza 4, line 2 In holding by the law within. [In holding an intellectual faith which does not care " to fix itself to form." — ED.] [Hallam Tennyson]
- Stanza 4, line 4 ' such a type' as 'the flesh and blood' of Christ (n). [Bradley]
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