Do we indeed desire the dead
Do we indeed desire the deadShould still be near us at our side?Is there no baseness we would hide?No inner vileness that we dread?
Shall he for whose applause I strove,I had such reverence for his blame,See with clear eye some hidden shameAnd I be lessen’d in his love?
I wrong the grave with fears untrue:Shall love be blamed for want of faith?There must be wisdom with great Death;The dead shall look me thro’ and thro’.
Be near us when we climb or fall:Ye watch, like God, the rolling hoursWith larger other eyes than ours,To make allowance for us all.
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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Do we indeed desire the dead 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, Do we indeed desire the dead, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-50.html, id L18410.
Form and metre
Do we indeed desire the dead 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 91%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% 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 deadA · sideB · hideB · dreadA
- 2 ABBA stroveA · blameB · shameB · loveA
- 3 ABBA untrueA · faithB · deathB · throA
- 4 ABBA fallA · hoursB · oursB · allA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Do we indeed desire the dead | 8 | ··˘/˘/·· |
| Should still be near us at our side? | 8 | ······/· |
| Is there no baseness we would hide? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| No inner vileness that we dread? | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Shall he for whose applause I strove, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| I had such reverence for his blame, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| See with clear eye some hidden shame | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And I be lessen’d in his love? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I wrong the grave with fears untrue: | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Shall love be blamed for want of faith? | 8 | ········ |
| There must be wisdom with great Death; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The dead shall look me thro’ and thro’. | 8 | ········ |
| Be near us when we climb or fall: | 8 | ········ |
| Ye watch, like God, the rolling hours | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| With larger other eyes than ours, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| To make allowance for us all. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
On this poem
"There must be wisdom with great Death: The dead shall look me thro' and thro'."
* * * * *
"They watch, like God, the rolling hours With larger other eyes than ours, To make allowance for us all."
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 4 [See Memoir^ i. 481. The Queen quoted this verse to my father about the Prince Consort, just after his death, and told him that it had brought her great com- fort.—ED.] [Hallam Tennyson]
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.