Tho’ truths in manhood darkly join
Tho’ truths in manhood darkly join,Deep-seated in our mystic frame,We yield all blessing to the nameOf Him that made them current coin;
For wisdom dealt with mortal powers,Where Truth in closest words shall fail,When Truth embodied in a taleShall enter in at lowly doors.
And so the Word had breath, and wroughtWith human hands the creed of creedsIn loveliness of perfect deeds,More strong than all poetic thought;
Which he may read that binds the sheaf,Or builds the house, or digs the grave,And those wild eyes that watch the waveIn roarings round the coral reef.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Tho’ truths in manhood darkly join 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, Tho’ truths in manhood darkly join, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-36.html, id L18396.
Form and metre
Tho’ truths in manhood darkly join 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%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 joinA · frameB · nameB · coinA
- 2 ABBA powersA · failB · taleB · doorsA
- 3 ABBA wroughtA · creedsB · deedsB · thoughtA
- 4 ABBA sheafA · graveB · waveB · reefA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tho’ truths in manhood darkly join, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Deep-seated in our mystic frame, | 8 | ·/˘·//˘· |
| We yield all blessing to the name | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of Him that made them current coin; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For wisdom dealt with mortal powers, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Where Truth in closest words shall fail, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| When Truth embodied in a tale | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Shall enter in at lowly doors. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And so the Word had breath, and wrought | 8 | ········ |
| With human hands the creed of creeds | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In loveliness of perfect deeds, | 8 | ·/˘˘·/·· |
| More strong than all poetic thought; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Which he may read that binds the sheaf, | 8 | ········ |
| Or builds the house, or digs the grave, | 8 | ········ |
| And those wild eyes that watch the wave | 8 | ········ |
| In roarings round the coral reef. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
On this poem
"darkly join, Deep-seated in our mystic frame"--
since at best we only see as through a glass darkly: we nevertheless bless His name, who "made them current coin," so as to be generally intelligible. This was done by the teaching of Parables.
For Divine Wisdom, having to deal with mortal powers, conveyed sacred truth through "lowly doors," by embodying it in earthly similitudes; because "closest words" will not explain Divine things, owing to the imperfection of human language; "and so the Word had breath," "God was manifest in the flesh" (1 Tim. iii., 16, and 1 John, 14), and by good works wrought the best of all creeds, which the labourer in the field, the mason, the grave-digger,
"And those wild eyes that watch the wave In roarings round the coral reef,"
even the savage of the Pacific Islands, can see and understand, being conveyed to him through both the miracles and parables of the Gospel.
Notes from the edition 9
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 [See Introduction, supra, p. 222. —ED.] [Hallam Tennyson]
- Stanza 1, line 1 * manhood': human nature; 'join': meet; * darkly': obscurely, so that they are only dimly visible. Cf. XXXI v. i, and Two Voices:
Ah sure within him and without, Could his dark wisdom find it out, There must be answer to his doubt. [Bradley] - Stanza 1, line 2 * mystic frame ': cf. LXXVIII. 18. [Bradley]
- Stanza 2, line 1 For Wisdom dealt with mortal powers,
Where truth in closest words shall fail, When truth embodied in a tale Shall enter in at lowly doors. For divine Wisdom had to deal with the limited powers of humanity, to which truth logically argued out would be ineffectual, whereas truth coming in the story of the Gospel can influence the poorest. [Tennyson] - Stanza 2, line 1 Wisdom, or the Word, adapted itself to merely human minds — minds which can receive, embodied in a tale, truths which, expressed in closely knit reasonings, would find no entrance. (The reference is not merely to the one truth of immortality.)
The 'tale' here is the Gospel narrative in general, not merely stories such as the Parables. For 'the creed of creeds ' (see next stanza) seems to be the life which Christ lived, and so the record of that life with the truths embodied in it. For the emphasis on 'deeds' (cf. 'hands' in 10) cf. xxxn. 13, xxxiii. 10.
With the thought cf. Akbar's Dream, where religious ' Forms ' are described as
A silken cord let down from Paradise, When fine Philosophies would fail, to draw The crowd from wallowing in the mire of earth, And all the more, when these behold their Lord, Who shaped the forms, obey them, and himself Here on this bank in some way live the life Beyond the bridge. Here the last lines repeat the idea of stanza 3. [Bradley] - Stanza 3 the Word. [As in the first chapter of St. John's Gospel — the Revela- tion of the Eternal Thought of the Universe. —ED.] [Hallam Tennyson]
- Stanza 3, line 1 'the Word': the Memoir (i. 312) says that Tennyson explained that 'the Word' in this section 'was " the Word" as used by St. John, the Revelation of the Eternal Thought of the Universe.' [Bradley]
- Stanza 4 those wild eyes. By this is intended the Pacific Islanders, " wild " having a sense of " barbarian " in it. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 4, line 3 Savages of the Pacific Islands. [Bradley]
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.