How many a father have I seen
How many a father have I seen,A sober man, among his boys,Whose youth was full of foolish noise,Who wears his manhood hale and green;
And dare we to this doctrine giveThat had the wild oat not been sown,The soil, left barren, had not grownThe grain by which a man may live?
Oh! if we held the doctrine soundFor life outliving heats of youth,Yet who would preach it as a truthTo those that eddy round and round?
Hold thou the good: define it well:For fear divine philosophyShould push beyond her mark, and beProcuress to the Lords of Hell.
Words in this poem
- procuress n.
- A female procurer, or pander.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
How many a father have I seen 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, How many a father have I seen, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-52.html, id L18412.
Form and metre
How many a father have I seen 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%). 99% 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. 38% 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 seenA · boysB · noiseB · greenA
- 2 ABBA giveA · sownB · grownB · liveA
- 3 ABBA soundA · youthB · truthB · roundA
- 4 ABBA wellA · philosophyB · beB · hellA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How many a father have I seen, | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| A sober man, among his boys, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Whose youth was full of foolish noise, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Who wears his manhood hale and green; | 8 | ···/···· |
| And dare we to this doctrine give | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That had the wild oat not been sown, | 8 | ········ |
| The soil, left barren, had not grown | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The grain by which a man may live? | 8 | ········ |
| Oh! if we held the doctrine sound | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For life outliving heats of youth, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Yet who would preach it as a truth | 8 | ········ |
| To those that eddy round and round? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Hold thou the good: define it well: | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| For fear divine philosophy | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Should push beyond her mark, and be | 8 | ········ |
| Procuress to the Lords of Hell. | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
On this poem
"A sober man among his boys,"
whose youth was noisy and foolish. Are we then to conclude from his example, that had there been no wild oats sown, there scarcely would have come
"The grain by which a man may live?"
If we ventured to name such a doctrine among the old, who have "outlived heats of youth," would we preach it to the young, who still "eddy round and round?"
Hold fast what is good, and define it well; and take care that "divine Philosophy" does not exceed her legitimate bound and become
"Procuress to the lords of hell"--
by advocating sin as the path to sanctity.
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 2 And dare we to this fancy give. There is a passionate heat of nature in a rake sometimes. The nature that yields emotionally may turn out straighter than a prig's. Yet we must not be making excuses, but we must set before us a rule of good for young as for old. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 2, line 1 'fancy': first ed.: * doctrine.'
' give ': yield. Tennyson is fond of this use of ' give.' 7.. 'scarce had': first ed.: 'had not.' The alteration shows the poet's shrinking from the 'doctrine.' For the metaphor cf. 2 Henry IV., IV. iv. 54 (of Prince Henry),
Most subject is the fattest soil to weeds. [Bradley] - Stanza 3 And dare we to this fancy give. There is a passionate heat of nature in a rake sometimes. The nature that yields emotionally may turn out straighter than a prig's. Yet we must not be making excuses, but we must set before us a rule of good for young as for old. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 3, line 1 The fear of doing harm by the public mention of subjects and ideas which (he considered) could only be
safely discussed by the few, was evidently a marked charac- teristic of Tennyson. [Bradley] - Stanza 3, line 1 ' Or, if: first ed.: 'Oh, if (a late change). [Bradley]
- Stanza 4 And dare we to this fancy give. There is a passionate heat of nature in a rake sometimes. The nature that yields emotionally may turn out straighter than a prig's. Yet we must not be making excuses, but we must set before us a rule of good for young as for old. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 4 divine Philosophy. [Cf. xxin. vi. — ED.] [Hallam Tennyson]
- Stanza 4, line 1 f Even if evil is sometimes the condition of good, that does not lessen the difference between them. Hold to the good, and make its nature clear to yourself.' This warning has not saved the author from being represented as trusting that ' error and folly and sin and suffering are " good, only misunderstood." ' [Bradley]
- Stanza 4, line 2 Cf. Comus, 476, 'divine philosophy,' and xxm. 22. [Bradley]
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