Tho’ if an eye that’s downward cast
Tho’ if an eye that’s downward castCould make thee somewhat blench or fail,So be my love an idle tale,And fading legend of the past;
And thou, as one that once declined,When he was little more than boy,On some unworthy heart with joy,But lives to wed an equal mind;
And breathes a novel world, the whileHis other passion wholly dies,Or in the light of deeper eyesIs matter for a flying smile.
Words in this poem
- blench v. t.
- To baffle; to disconcert; to turn away; -- also, to obstruct; to hinder.
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Tho’ if an eye that’s downward cast 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, Tho’ if an eye that’s downward cast, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-60.html, id L18420.
Form and metre
Tho’ if an eye that’s downward cast 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%). 96% 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 castA · failB · taleB · pastA
- 2 ABBA declinedA · boyB · joyB · mindA
- 3 ABBA whileA · diesB · eyesB · smileA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tho’ if an eye that’s downward cast | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Could make thee somewhat blench or fail, | 8 | ···//··· |
| So be my love an idle tale, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And fading legend of the past; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And thou, as one that once declined, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| When he was little more than boy, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| On some unworthy heart with joy, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| But lives to wed an equal mind; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And breathes a novel world, the while | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| His other passion wholly dies, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Or in the light of deeper eyes | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Is matter for a flying smile. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
On this poem
The first love then either wholly dies out, or
"Is matter for a flying smile"--
a subject for ridicule.
Notes from the edition 5
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 1 See LXI. 5. *Tho" in effect = ' yet,' which was used four lines above. [Bradley]
- Stanza 1, line 2 * blench ': flinch; ' fail ': the idea is that of losing the power to advance, as in XLVI. 4. [Bradley]
- Stanza 1, line 3 'Then': first ed.: 'So.' [Bradley]
- Stanza 1, line 4 Cf. Faust, Zueignung\
Gleich einer alten, halbverklungnen Sage, Kommt erste Lieb' und Freundschaft mit herauf. [Bradley] - Stanza 2, line 1 ' declined ': cf. Hamlet, I. v. 50:
To decline
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor To those of mine, and Locksley Hall,
having known me, to decline On a range of lower feelings and a narrower heart than mine. [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.