Sweet soul! do with me as thou wilt
Sweet soul! do with me as thou wilt;I lull a fancy trouble-tostWith ‘Love’s too precious to be lost,A little grain shall not be spilt.’
And in that solace can I sing,Till out of painful phases wroughtThere flutters up a happy thought,Self-balanced on a lightsome wing:
Since we deserved the name of friends,And thine effect so lives in me,A part of mine may live in thee,And move thee on to noble ends.
Words in this poem
- lull v. t.
- To cause to rest by soothing influences; to compose; to calm; to soothe; to quiet. [Akin to OD. lullen to sing to sleep, G. lullen, Dan. lulle, Sw. lulla; all of imitative origin. Cf. Loll, Lollard.]
- 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,]
- solace n.
- Comfort in grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety; also, that which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; relief. [OF. solas, ssoulaz, L. solacium, solatium, fr. solari to comfort, console. Cf. Console, v. t.]
- lightsome a.
- Having light; lighted; not dark or gloomy; bright.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sweet soul! do with me as thou wilt 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, Sweet soul! do with me as thou wilt, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-63.html, id L18423.
Form and metre
Sweet soul! do with me as thou wilt 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 94%). 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 wiltA · tostB · lostB · spiltA
- 2 ABBA singA · wroughtB · thoughtB · wingA
- 3 ABBA friendsA · meB · theeB · endsA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sweet soul! do with me as thou wilt; | 8 | ········ |
| I lull a fancy trouble-tost | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| With ‘Love’s too precious to be lost, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A little grain shall not be spilt.’ | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And in that solace can I sing, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Till out of painful phases wrought | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| There flutters up a happy thought, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Self-balanced on a lightsome wing: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Since we deserved the name of friends, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And thine effect so lives in me, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| A part of mine may live in thee, | 8 | ········ |
| And move thee on to noble ends. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
On this poem
"Sweet soul, do with me as thou wilt."
All that he can resolve is, to cherish every grain of love; and in doing so, there springs up the "happy thought," that if his own nature has been elevated by intercourse with Hallam, why may not a like result have been reflected from himself on his friend?
"Since we deserved the name of friends, And thine effect so lives in me, A part of mine may live in thee, And move thee on to noble ends."
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, line 1 ' Sweet soul ': cf. LVII. n. * Do with me ': remember me or forget me. [Bradley]
- Stanza 1, line 4 Not even a little grain shall be spilt. For * grain,' used of his love for his friend, cf. LXXXI. [Bradley]
- Stanza 2, line 1 ' painful phases ': the painful doubt of being remem- bered. ' Metaphor from butterfly and chrysalis ' (Beeching). [Bradley]
- Stanza 3, line 3 'a part of mine': the idea seems to be, 'Since your influence on me remains so strong, perhaps some influence of mine on you may remain.' [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.