In those sad words I took farewell
In those sad words I took farewell:Like echoes in sepulchral halls,As drop by drop the water fallsIn vaults and catacombs, they fell;
And, falling, idly broke the peaceOf hearts that beat from day to day,Half-conscious of their dying clay,And those cold crypts where they shall cease.
The high Muse answer’d: ‘Wherefore grieveThy brethren with a fruitless tear?Abide a little longer here,And thou shalt take a nobler leave.’
Words in this poem
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- 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,]
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- fruitless a.
- Lacking, or not bearing, fruit; barren; destitute of offspring; as, a fruitless tree or shrub; a fruitless marriage.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In those sad words I took farewell 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, In those sad words I took farewell, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-57.html, id L18417.
Form and metre
In those sad words I took farewell 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 95%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 25% 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 farewellA · hallsB · fallsB · fellA
- 2 ABBA peaceA · dayB · clayB · ceaseA
- 3 ABBA grieveA · tearB · hereB · leaveA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In those sad words I took farewell: | 8 | ·······/ |
| Like echoes in sepulchral halls, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| As drop by drop the water falls | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In vaults and catacombs, they fell; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And, falling, idly broke the peace | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Of hearts that beat from day to day, | 8 | ········ |
| Half-conscious of their dying clay, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And those cold crypts where they shall cease. | 8 | ········ |
| The high Muse answer’d: ‘Wherefore grieve | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Thy brethren with a fruitless tear? | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Abide a little longer here, | 8 | ˘/·/˘/˘· |
| And thou shalt take a nobler leave.’ | 8 | ·····/˘· |
On this poem
He now compares the words of his late farewell to the echoes of dropping water in burial vaults, and he says that other hearts besides his own were affected by his lamentation.
Urania reproaches him for thus distributing a fruitless grief amongst those who had shared his sense of loss; and, exhorting him to wait with patience for a more resigned feeling, she assures him that it will come to his great relief--
"Abide a little longer here, And thou shalt take a nobler leave"--
be able to speak with more confidence of their meeting again.
Notes from the edition 4
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 Ulysses was written soon after Arthur Hallam's death, and gave my feelings about the need of going forward and braving the struggle of life perhaps more simply than anything in In Memoriam.
R [Tennyson] - Stanza 1, line 1 'those sad words': the 'greetings' of the end of LVII. [Bradley]
- Stanza 2, line 1 Cf. The Lover3 s Tale:
While her words, syllable by syllable, Like water, drop by drop, upon my ear Fell. [Bradley] - Stanza 2, line 2 The fellow-mourners or by-standers of LVII. ' Half- corscious': only half-conscious.
c. Possibly, as Robinson suggests, he thinks here of Urania (xxxvu. i), as of Melpomene in LVII. 2. n. 'here': by the grave. [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.