The wish, that of the living whole
The wish, that of the living wholeNo life may fail beyond the grave;Derives it not from what we haveThe likest God within the soul?
Are God and Nature then at strife,That Nature lends such evil dreams?So careful of the type she seems,So careless of the single life;
That I, considering everywhereHer secret meaning in her deeds,And finding that of fifty seedsShe often brings but one to bear;
I falter where I firmly trod,And falling with my weight of caresUpon the great world’s altar-stairsThat slope thro’ darkness up to God;
I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope,And gather dust and chaff, and callTo what I feel is Lord of all,And faintly trust the larger hope.
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- falter v. t.
- To thrash in the chaff; also, to cleanse or sift, as barley.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The wish, that of the living whole 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, The wish, that of the living whole, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-54.html, id L18414.
Form and metre
The wish, that of the living whole is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 35% 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 wholeA · graveB · haveB · soulA
- 2 ABBA strifeA · dreamsB · seemsB · lifeA
- 3 ABBA everywhereA · deedsB · seedsB · bearA
- 4 ABBA trodA · caresB · stairsB · godA
- 5 ABBA gropeA · callB · allB · hopeA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The wish, that of the living whole | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| No life may fail beyond the grave; | 8 | ········ |
| Derives it not from what we have | 8 | ˘/······ |
| The likest God within the soul? | 8 | ········ |
| Are God and Nature then at strife, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That Nature lends such evil dreams? | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| So careful of the type she seems, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| So careless of the single life; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That I, considering everywhere | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Her secret meaning in her deeds, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And finding that of fifty seeds | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| She often brings but one to bear; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I falter where I firmly trod, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And falling with my weight of cares | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Upon the great world’s altar-stairs | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That slope thro’ darkness up to God; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope, | 8 | ········ |
| And gather dust and chaff, and call | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To what I feel is Lord of all, | 8 | ········ |
| And faintly trust the larger hope. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
On this poem
"Are God and Nature then at strife?"
for we find Nature, whilst careful in preserving the type of each species, utterly reckless of the separate members. We find, too, that out of "fifty (myriad) seeds" sown, only one perhaps germinates. He falters and falls down
"Upon the great world's altar-stairs, That slope thro' darkness up to God;"--
but still he stretches forth "lame hands of faith"
"To what I feel is Lord of all, And faintly trust the larger hope"--
the hope of a final restitution of all things.
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 1, line 4 The likest God within the soul. The inner consciousness — the divine in man. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 2, line 3 * La nature s'embarrasse peu des individus, elle ne s'occupe que de 1'espece': Buffon. [Bradley]
- Stanza 3, line 3 And finding that of fifty seeds She often brings but one to bear. "Fifty" should be "myriad." [Tennyson]
- Stanza 4, line 2 Cf. Sophocles, Antig. 853. [Bradley]
- Stanza 4, line 4 'darkness': cf. cxxiv. 23. Cf. and contrast Princess^ VII.:
For she that out of Lethe scales with man The shining steps of Nature. [Bradley] - Stanza 5 the larger hope. [My father means by "the larger hope" that the whole human race would through, perhaps, ages of suffering, be at length purified and
saved, even those who now " better not with time," so that at the end of The Vision of Sin we read:
God made Himself an awful rose of dawn.
ED.] [Hallam Tennyson] - Stanza 5, line 2 'And gather dust and chaff': in trying to reason. Cf. Two Voices: ' a dust of systems and of creeds.' [Bradley]
- Stanza 5, line 3 Cf. Prologue, stanza 2. [Bradley]
- Stanza 5, line 4 'the larger hope': 'he means by "the larger hope" that the whole human race would through, perhaps, ages of suffering, be at length purified and saved,' Memoir, I. 321. Is this also the 'divine event'? [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.