Dark house, by which once more I stand
Dark house, by which once more I standHere in the long unlovely street,Doors, where my heart was used to beatSo quickly, waiting for a hand,
A hand that can be clasp’d no more--Behold me, for I cannot sleep,And like a guilty thing I creepAt earliest morning to the door.
He is not here; but far awayThe noise of life begins again,And ghastly thro’ the drizzling rainOn the bald street breaks the blank day.
Words in this poem
- unlovely a.
- Not lovely; not amiable; possessing qualities that excite dislike; disagreeable; displeasing; unpleasant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dark house, by which once more I stand 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, Dark house, by which once more I stand, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-7.html, id L18367.
Form and metre
Dark house, by which once more I stand 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 86%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 42% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end. Rhymes that have moved apart since the poem was written: blood / good.
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 standA · streetB · beatB · handA
- 2 ABBA moreA · sleepB · creepB · doorA
- 3 ABBA awayA · againB · rainB · dayA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dark house, by which once more I stand | 8 | ········ |
| Here in the long unlovely street, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Doors, where my heart was used to beat | 8 | ········ |
| So quickly, waiting for a hand, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| A hand that can be clasp’d no more-- | 8 | ········ |
| Behold me, for I cannot sleep, | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| And like a guilty thing I creep | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| At earliest morning to the door. | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| He is not here; but far away | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The noise of life begins again, | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| And ghastly thro’ the drizzling rain | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| On the bald street breaks the blank day. | 8 | ········ |
On this poem
"He is not here; but far away."
The revival of busy movement on a wet morning in "the long unlovely street," is vividly described--
"The noise of life begins again, And ghastly thro' the drizzling rain On the bald street breaks the blank day."
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 Dark house, by which once more I stand
Here hi the long unlovely street. 67 Wimpole Street [the house of the historian Henry Hallam. A. H. H. used to say, " You will always find us at sixes and sevens." Cf. cxix. — ED.]. [Tennyson] - Stanza 1, line 4 Cf. Break, break, break:
* But O for the touch of a vanish'd hand.' [Bradley] - Stanza 2, line 3 For the idea cf. Maud, II. iv. st. x.:
And on my heavy eyelids My anguish hangs like shame.
(This section of Maud was, In its original form, written not later than 1834.) For the phrase see Hamlet, I. i. 148:
* And then it started like a guilty thing.'
But see also Wordsworth's Immortality Ode, IX., and an article on Associated Reminiscences by A. B. Cook in the Clascal Review, October, 1901. [Bradley] - Stanza 3, line 1 ' far away,' in busier streets. [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.