As sometimes in a dead man’s face
As sometimes in a dead man’s face,To those that watch it more and more,A likeness hardly seen beforeComes out--to some one of his race:
So, dearest, now thy brows are cold,I see thee what thou art, and knowThy likeness to the wise below,Thy kindred with the great of old.
But there is more than I can see,And what I see I leave unsaid,Nor speak it, knowing Death has madeHis darkness beautiful with thee.
About this text
As sometimes in a dead man’s face 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, As sometimes in a dead man’s face, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-72.html, id L18432.
Form and metre
As sometimes in a dead man’s face 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 88%). 98% 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 faceA · moreB · beforeB · raceA
- 2 ABBA coldA · knowB · belowB · oldA
- 3 ABBA seeA · unsaidB · madeB · theeA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As sometimes in a dead man’s face, | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| To those that watch it more and more, | 8 | ········ |
| A likeness hardly seen before | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Comes out--to some one of his race: | 8 | ········ |
| So, dearest, now thy brows are cold, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I see thee what thou art, and know | 8 | ········ |
| Thy likeness to the wise below, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thy kindred with the great of old. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But there is more than I can see, | 8 | ········ |
| And what I see I leave unsaid, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Nor speak it, knowing Death has made | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| His darkness beautiful with thee. | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘·· |
On this poem
What he saw, therefore, was with "the mind's eye." And as Death often brings out a likeness, which was never before recognized; so, contemplating the character of the departed, he sees
"Thy likeness to the wise below, Thy kindred with the great of old."
I can perceive worth in thee equal to theirs!
The last stanza is mystical; the darkness of death hides much; what he can see he cannot or will not explain: enough, that thou hast made even this darkness of death beautiful by thy presence.
Notes from the edition 3
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 Gatty quotes Browne, Letter to a Friend, of some one recently dead [it is really of some one near death]: ' he lost his own face... and looked like his uncle.' [Bradley]
- Stanza 2, line 3 Cf. LXI. ' Below ' surely means ' among the dead,' not * now on earth.' [Bradley]
- Stanza 3, line 1 Refers to 6. Even yet he cannot realise all the likeness and greatness.
n, 12. Cf. the famous soliloquy in Romeo and Juliet ', V. iii. 74 ff. Collins compares Petrarch, Sonnet 80,
Non pub far Morte il dolce viso amaro, Ma Jl dolce viso dolce puo far Morte. [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.