From art, from nature, from the schools
From art, from nature, from the schools,Let random influences glance,Like light in many a shiver’d lanceThat breaks about the dappled pools:
The lightest wave of thought shall lisp,The fancy’s tenderest eddy wreathe,The slightest air of song shall breatheTo make the sullen surface crisp.
And look thy look, and go thy way,But blame not thou the winds that makeThe seeming-wanton ripple break,The tender-pencil’d shadow play.
Beneath all fancied hopes and fearsAy me! the sorrow deepens down,Whose muffled motions blindly drownThe bases of my life in tears.
Words in this poem
- dappled a.
- Marked with spots of different shades of color; spotted; variegated; as, a dapple horse.
- 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,]
- lisp v. i.
- To pronounce the sibilant letter s imperfectly; to give s and z the sound of th; -- a defect common among children. [OE. lispen, lipsen, AS. wlisp stammering, lisping; akin to D. & OHG. lispen to lisp, G. lispeln, Sw. läspa, Dan. lespe.]
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- blindly adv.
- Without sight, discernment, or understanding; without thought, investigation, knowledge, or purpose of one's own.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
From art, from nature, from the schools 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, From art, from nature, from the schools, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-48.html, id L18408.
Form and metre
From art, from nature, from the schools 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 95%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 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 schoolsA · glanceB · lanceB · poolsA
- 2 ABBA lispA · wreatheB · breatheB · crispA
- 3 ABBA wayA · makeB · breakB · playA
- 4 ABBA fearsA · downB · drownB · tearsA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| From art, from nature, from the schools, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Let random influences glance, | 8 | ·/˘/·˘˘· |
| Like light in many a shiver’d lance | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| That breaks about the dappled pools: | 8 | ······˘· |
| The lightest wave of thought shall lisp, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The fancy’s tenderest eddy wreathe, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| The slightest air of song shall breathe | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To make the sullen surface crisp. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And look thy look, and go thy way, | 8 | ········ |
| But blame not thou the winds that make | 8 | ········ |
| The seeming-wanton ripple break, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| The tender-pencil’d shadow play. | 8 | ·/˘/˘/·· |
| Beneath all fancied hopes and fears | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Ay me! the sorrow deepens down, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Whose muffled motions blindly drown | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| The bases of my life in tears. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
On this poem
The transient passenger may look and go on his way, but must not blame such mental perturbations: for
"Beneath all fancied hopes and fears, Ay me, the sorrow deepens down, Whose muffled motions blindly drown The bases of my life in tears."
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 1 ' the schools ': of theology and philosophy. [Bradley]
- Stanza 2 crisp [curl, ripple. Cf. To watch the crisping ripples on the beach. The Lotos-Eaters. — ED.]. [Hallam Tennyson]
- Stanza 2, line 1 ' lightest ': the poet did not notice that he had used 'light 'in 3. [Bradley]
- Stanza 2, line 4 ' crisp ': ' curl,' ' ripple,' a verb. Cf. Par. Lost, IV. 237, * the crisped brooks.' The word occurs often in Tennyson's early poems, e.g. 'To watch the crisping ripples on the beach' (Lotos-Eaters). [Bradley]
- Stanza 3, line 1 He addresses the traveller, as in XXI. [Bradley]
- Stanza 4, line 4 'bases': the metaphor seems to be changed. [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.