Again at Christmas did we weave
Again at Christmas did we weaveThe holly round the Christmas hearth,The silent snow possess’d the earth,And calmly fell our Christmas-eve;
The yule-clog sparkled keen with frost,No wing of wind the region swept,But over all things brooding sleptThe quiet sense of something lost.
As in the winters left behind,Again our ancient games had place,The mimic pictures breathing grace,And dance and song and hoodman-blind.
Who show’d a token of distress?No single tear, no type of pain:O sorrow, then can sorrow wane?O grief, can grief be changed to less?
O last regret, Regret can die!No--mixt with all this mystic frame,Her deep relations are the same,But with long use her tears are dry.
Words in this poem
- yule n.
- Christmas or Christmastide; the feast of the Nativity of our Savior. [OE. yol, ýol, AS. geól; akin to geóla December or January, Icel. jol Yule, Ylir the name of a winter month, Sw. jul Christmas, Dan. juul, Goth. jiuleis November]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Again at Christmas did we weave 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, Again at Christmas did we weave, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-76.html, id L18436.
Form and metre
Again at Christmas did we weave is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 98%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 10% 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 weaveA · hearthB · earthB · eveA
- 2 ABBA frostA · sweptB · sleptB · lostA
- 3 ABBA behindA · placeB · graceB · blindA
- 4 ABBA distressA · painB · waneB · lessA
- 5 ABBA dieA · frameB · sameB · dryA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Again at Christmas did we weave | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| The holly round the Christmas hearth, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The silent snow possess’d the earth, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| And calmly fell our Christmas-eve; | 8 | ·/˘·//˘· |
| The yule-clog sparkled keen with frost, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| No wing of wind the region swept, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But over all things brooding slept | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The quiet sense of something lost. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| As in the winters left behind, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Again our ancient games had place, | 8 | ˘///˘··· |
| The mimic pictures breathing grace, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And dance and song and hoodman-blind. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Who show’d a token of distress? | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| No single tear, no type of pain: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| O sorrow, then can sorrow wane? | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| O grief, can grief be changed to less? | 8 | ········ |
| O last regret, Regret can die! | 8 | ··˘/˘/·· |
| No--mixt with all this mystic frame, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Her deep relations are the same, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| But with long use her tears are dry. | 8 | ········ |
On this poem
"over all things brooding slept The quiet sense of something lost."
There were no visible signs of distress--no tears or outward mourning. Could regret then have died out?
"No--mixt with all this mystic frame, Her deep relations are the same, But with long use her tears are dry."
Notes from the edition 7
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 2, line 1 'Yule-clog': ' clog ' = ' log' is a dialect-word used in Scotland, some of the northern counties of England, and north Lincolnshire (Dialect Dictionary}. [Bradley]
- Stanza 3, line 3 The mimic picture's breathing grace. Tableaux vivants. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 3 hoodman-blind^ blind man's buff. [Cf.
" What devil was't
That thus hath cozen'd you at hoodman- blind ? "
Hamlet, in. iv. 77. — ED.] [Tennyson] - Stanza 3, line 3 Tableaux vivants. [Bradley]
- Stanza 3, line 4 ' hoodman-blind ': blindman's buff Cf. Hamlet, HI. iv. 77. [Bradley]
- Stanza 4, line 2 'mark': first ed.: 'type.' [Bradley]
- Stanza 5, line 2 'No': cf. cxv. 18, and contrast Epilogue, 17; ' mystic frame,' ' deep ' • repeated from XXXVI. 2; ' relations ': with everything else in the mystic frame. [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.