When on my bed the moonlight falls
When on my bed the moonlight falls,I know that in thy place of restBy that broad water of the west,There comes a glory on the walls:
Thy marble bright in dark appears,As slowly steals a silver flameAlong the letters of thy name,And o’er the number of thy years.
The mystic glory swims away;From off my bed the moonlight dies;And closing eaves of wearied eyesI sleep till dusk is dipt in gray:
And then I know the mist is drawnA lucid veil from coast to coast,And in the chancel like a ghostThy tablet glimmers to the dawn.
Words in this poem
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
When on my bed the moonlight falls 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, When on my bed the moonlight falls, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-65.html, id L18425.
Form and metre
When on my bed the moonlight falls is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 31% 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 fallsA · restB · westB · wallsA
- 2 ABBA appearsA · flameB · nameB · yearsA
- 3 ABBA awayA · diesB · eyesB · grayA
- 4 ABBA drawnA · coastB · ghostB · dawnA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When on my bed the moonlight falls, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| I know that in thy place of rest | 8 | ········ |
| By that broad water of the west, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| There comes a glory on the walls: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thy marble bright in dark appears, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| As slowly steals a silver flame | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Along the letters of thy name, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| And o’er the number of thy years. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The mystic glory swims away; | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| From off my bed the moonlight dies; | 8 | ·····/·· |
| And closing eaves of wearied eyes | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I sleep till dusk is dipt in gray: | 8 | ········ |
| And then I know the mist is drawn | 8 | ········ |
| A lucid veil from coast to coast, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And in the chancel like a ghost | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thy tablet glimmers to the dawn. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
On this poem
"TO THE MEMORY OF ARTHUR HENRY HALLAM, OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, B.A., ELDEST SON OF HENRY HALLAM, ESQUIRE, AND OF JULIA MARIA, HIS WIFE, DAUGHTER OF SIR ABRAHAM ELTON, BART., OF CLEVEDON COURT, WHO WAS SNATCHED AWAY BY SUDDEN DEATH, AT VIENNA, ON SEPTEMBER 15TH, 1833, IN THE 23RD YEAR OF HIS AGE. AND NOW, IN THIS OBSCURE AND SOLITARY CHURCH,
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 3 By that broad water of the west. The Severn. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 2, line 1 ' bright in dark ': cf. Shakespeare, Son. 43, * And darkly bright are bright in dark directed' (Collins). The moonlight is imagined coming through a narrow window. [Bradley]
- Stanza 3, line 3 'eaves': the metaphor recurs in Clear-headed friend and Tiresias (' the roofs of sight '), the word in ' Her eyelids dropp'd their silken eaves,' The Talking Oak. [Bradley]
- Stanza 4 I myself did not see Clevedon till years after the burial of A. H. H.
(Jan. 3, 1834), and then in later editions of In Memoriam I altered the word "chancel" (which was the word used by Mr. Hallam in his Memoir) to " dark church." [Tennyson] - Stanza 4, line 3 'dark church': first ed.: 'chancel.' 'I myself did not see Clevedon till years after the burial of A. H. H., Jan. 3rd, 1834, and then in later editions of " In Memoriam" I altered the word "chancel," which was the word used by Mr. Hallam in his Memoir, to " dark church." ' (Tennyson in Memiir, I. 305). The tablet is 'in the manor aisle' (ib. 295). The inscription is given in the Memoir (ib. 296) and also in Gatty. The alteration improves the poem, as ' dark church' recalls the picture of line 5. [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.