I sometimes hold it half a sin
I sometimes hold it half a sinTo put in words the grief I feel;For words, like nature, half revealAnd half conceal the Soul within.
But, for the unquiet heart and brain,A use in measur’d language lies;The sad mechanic exerciseLike dull narcotics, numbing pain.
In words, like weeds, I’ll wrap me o’er,Like coarsest clothes against the cold;But that large grief which these enfoldIs given in outline and no more.
Words in this poem
- unquiet v. t.
- To disquiet. Ld. Herbert. [1st pref. un- + quiet.]
- enfold v. t.
- To infold. See Infold.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
I sometimes hold it half a sin 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, I sometimes hold it half a sin, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-5.html, id L18365.
Form and metre
I sometimes hold it half a sin is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end. Rhymes that have moved apart since the poem was written: love / move, death / faith.
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 sinA · feelB · revealB · withinA
- 2 ABBA brainA · liesB · exerciseB · painA
- 3 ABBA o'erA · coldB · enfoldB · moreA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I sometimes hold it half a sin | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| To put in words the grief I feel; | 8 | ········ |
| For words, like nature, half reveal | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And half conceal the Soul within. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| But, for the unquiet heart and brain, | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| A use in measur’d language lies; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The sad mechanic exercise | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Like dull narcotics, numbing pain. | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| In words, like weeds, I’ll wrap me o’er, | 8 | ········ |
| Like coarsest clothes against the cold; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But that large grief which these enfold | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Is given in outline and no more. | 8 | ·/·/···· |
On this poem
But "after all" words act like narcotics, and numb pain: so, as if putting on "weeds," the garb of mourning, he will wrap himself over in words; though these, like coarse clothes on the body, give no more than an outline of his "large grief."
Notes from the edition 1
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 3, line 1 ' weeds ': garments, as often in the older poets. n, 12. Cf. Hamlet, I. ii. 85:
But I have that within which passeth show;
These but the trappings and the suits of woe. [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.