If, in thy second state sublime
If, in thy second state sublime,Thy ransom’d reason change repliesWith all the circle of the wise,The perfect flower of human time;
And if thou cast thine eyes below,How dimly character’d and slight,How dwarf’d a growth of cold and night,How blanch’d with darkness must I grow!
Yet turn thee to the doubtful shore,Where thy first form was made a man:I loved thee, Spirit, and love, nor canThe soul of Shakspeare love thee more.
Words in this poem
- dimly adv.
- In a dim or obscure manner; not brightly or clearly; with imperfect sight.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
If, in thy second state sublime 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, If, in thy second state sublime, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-59.html, id L18419.
Form and metre
If, in thy second state sublime 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 90%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 17% 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 sublimeA · repliesB · wiseB · timeA
- 2 ABBA belowA · slightB · nightB · growA
- 3 ABBA shoreA · manB · canB · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| If, in thy second state sublime, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Thy ransom’d reason change replies | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| With all the circle of the wise, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The perfect flower of human time; | 8 | ·/·/·/˘· |
| And if thou cast thine eyes below, | 8 | ········ |
| How dimly character’d and slight, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| How dwarf’d a growth of cold and night, | 8 | ········ |
| How blanch’d with darkness must I grow! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Yet turn thee to the doubtful shore, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Where thy first form was made a man: | 8 | ········ |
| I loved thee, Spirit, and love, nor can | 8 | ···/···· |
| The soul of Shakspeare love thee more. | 8 | ········ |
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.