Laurel · Alfred Tennyson · In Memoriam A.H.H.

Urania speaks with darken’d brow

iambic tetrameter · ABBA · 24 lines · from In Memoriam A.H.H.

Urania speaks with darken’d brow:‘Thou pratest here where thou art least;This faith has many a purer priest,And many an abler voice than thou:

Go down beside thy native rill,On thy Parnassus set thy feet,And hear thy laurel whisper sweetAbout the ledges of the hill.’

And my Melpomene replies,A touch of shame upon her cheek:‘I am not worthy but to speakOf thy prevailing mysteries;

For I am but an earthly Muse,And owning but a little artTo lull with song an aching heart,And render human love his dues;

But brooding on the dear one dead,And all he said of things divine,(And dear as sacramental wineTo dying lips is all he said),

I murmur’d, as I came along,Of comfort clasp’d in truth reveal’d;And loiter’d in the master’s field,And darken’d sanctities with song.’

Words in this poem

urania n.: One of the nine Muses, daughter of Zeus by Mnemosyne, and patron of astronomy.
rill n.: A very small brook; a streamlet. [Cf. LG. rille a small channel or brook, a furrow, a chamfer, OE. rigol a small brook, F. rigole a trench or furrow for water, W. rhill a row, rhigol a little di]
parnassus n.: A mountain in Greece, sacred to Apollo and the Muses, and famous for a temple of Apollo and for the Castalian spring. Grass of Parnassus. (Bot.) See under Grass, and Parnassia.
melpomene n.: The Muse of tragedy.
lull v. t.: To cause to rest by soothing influences; to compose; to calm; to soothe; to quiet. [Akin to OD. lullen to sing to sleep, G. lullen, Dan. lulle, Sw. lulla; all of imitative origin. Cf. Loll, Lollard.]
aching a.: That aches; continuously painful. See Ache.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Urania speaks with darken’d brow 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, Urania speaks with darken’d brow, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-37.html, id L18397.

Form and metre

Urania speaks with darken’d brow is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% 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 brow^A · least^B · priest^B · thou^A
2 ABBA rill^A · feet^B · sweet^B · hill^A
3 ABBA replies^A · cheek^B · speak^B · mysteries^A
4 ABBA muse^A · art^B · heart^B · dues^A
5 ABBA dead^A · divine^B · wine^B · said^A
6 ABBA along^A · reveal'd^B · field^B · song^A

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
Urania speaks with darken’d brow:	9	˘/˘˘··/˘·
‘Thou pratest here where thou art least;	8	········
This faith has many a purer priest,	8	···/·/˘·
And many an abler voice than thou:	8	·/·/˘···
Go down beside thy native rill,	8	··˘/·/˘·
On thy Parnassus set thy feet,	8	···/˘···
And hear thy laurel whisper sweet	8	···/˘/˘·
About the ledges of the hill.’	8	···/˘···
And my Melpomene replies,	8	··˘/˘˘˘/
A touch of shame upon her cheek:	8	········
‘I am not worthy but to speak	8	···/˘···
Of thy prevailing mysteries;	8	··˘/˘/˘˘
For I am but an earthly Muse,	8	·····/˘·
And owning but a little art	8	·/˘··/˘·
To lull with song an aching heart,	8	·····/˘·
And render human love his dues;	8	·/˘/˘···
But brooding on the dear one dead,	8	·/˘·····
And all he said of things divine,	8	······˘/
(And dear as sacramental wine	8	···/˘˘˘·
To dying lips is all he said),	8	·/˘·····
I murmur’d, as I came along,	8	·/˘···˘/
Of comfort clasp’d in truth reveal’d;	8	·/˘···˘/
And loiter’d in the master’s field,	8	·····/˘·
And darken’d sanctities with song.’	8	·/˘/˘˘··

On this poem

He imagines Urania, the heavenly Muse, to reprove him for venturing on sacred ground, and commenting on religious themes; as she would have him confine his steps to his own Parnassus, and there earn the laurel crown.

But his own tragic Muse, Melpomene, replies with the apology, that though unworthy to speak of holy mysteries, yet with his earthly song he had striven to soothe his own aching heart, and render a due tribute to human love; and inasmuch as the comfort he had drawn was "clasp'd in truth reveal'd," had its foundation in the Gospel: he daringly

"loiter'd in the Master's field, And darken'd sanctities with song."

Many readers of In Memoriam will have thanked its author for these trespasses upon the Holy Land, feeling indeed there was no profane intrusion.

Some will regret that he has changed the original line, "and dear as sacramental wine," into "and dear to me as sacred wine:" the purpose, one supposes, was that the reader should see that he spoke only for himself--"to me"--the meaning is unchanged, but the sound is rather flat.

Notes from the edition 12

Section introductions from Alfred Gatty, A Key to Lord Tennyson's “In Memoriam”, 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 The Works of Tennyson, Annotated by the Author, ed. Hallam, Lord Tennyson, vol. 3 (Macmillan, 1908; Internet Archive worksoftennysona03tennuoft). Line notes credited “[Bradley]” are A. C. Bradley's, from A Commentary on Tennyson's In Memoriam (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 The Heavenly muse bids the poet's muse sing on a less lofty theme.

[Melpomene, the earthly muse of tragedy, answers for the poet: "I am compelled to speak — as I think of the dead and of his words — of the comfort in the creed of creeds, although I feel myself unworthy to speak of such mysteries."] x [Tennyson]
Stanza 1, line 1 The conception of Urania, generally the Muse of Astronomy, as the goddess of heavenly poetry, is Miltonic. Cf. the famous address in Par. Lost, vn. 1-20. [Bradley]
Stanza 2, line 2 ' Parnassus ': a hill (8) sacred to Apollo and the Muses. The laurel grows freely on its slopes. Poets were crowned with laurel. [Bradley]
Stanza 3, line 1 Melpomene, the muse of Tragedy, here of Elegy. So in Spenser's Shepherds Calendar, November. [Bradley]
Stanza 3, line 3 'eW: first ed.: 'but,' which word occurs in 13. [Bradley]
Stanza 3, line 4 ' prevailing ' almost = ' superior.' [Bradley]
Stanza 4, line 3 Cf. v. vin. XXI. [Bradley]
Stanza 5 [The original reading in first edition:

And dear as sacramental wine.

ED.] [Hallam Tennyson]
Stanza 5, line 3 First ed.: 'And dear as sacramental wine.' [Bradley]
Stanza 6 master's field, the province of Christianity (see xxxvi.). [Tennyson]
Stanza 6, line 1 He returns to the image of the path, xxn. ff. [Bradley]
Stanza 6, line 3 ' master ': surely not Christ, but ' the dear one dead.' For see 18, and for 'master' cf. LXXXVII. 29. [Bradley]

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