A happy lover who has come
A happy lover who has comeTo look on her that loves him well,Who lights and rings the gateway bellAnd learns her gone and far from home,
He saddens, all the magic lightDies off at once from bower and hall,And all the place is dark, and allThe chambers emptied of delight;
So find I every pleasant spotIn which we two were wont to meet,The field, the chamber and the street,For all is dark where thou art not.
Yet as that other, wandering thereIn those deserted walks, may findA flower beat with rain and wind,Which once she foster’d up with care;
So seems it in my deep regret,O my forsaken heart, with theeAnd this poor flower of poesyWhich little cared for fades not yet.
But since it pleased a vanish’d eyeI go to plant it on his tomb,That if it can it there may bloom,Or dying there at least may die.
Words in this poem
- poesy n.
- The art of composing poems; poetical skill or faculty; as, the heavenly gift of poesy. [F. poésie (cf. It. poesia), L. poesis, from Gr. Posy.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A happy lover who has come 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, A happy lover who has come, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-8.html, id L18368.
Form and metre
A happy lover who has come is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% 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 comeA · wellB · bellB · homeA
- 2 ABBA lightA · hallB · allB · delightA
- 3 ABBA spotA · meetB · streetB · notA
- 4 ABBA thereA · findB · windB · careA
- 5 ABBA regretA · theeB · poesyB · yetA
- 6 ABBA eyeA · tombB · bloomB · dieA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A happy lover who has come | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To look on her that loves him well, | 8 | ········ |
| Who lights and rings the gateway bell | 8 | ·····/·· |
| And learns her gone and far from home, | 8 | ········ |
| He saddens, all the magic light | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Dies off at once from bower and hall, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| And all the place is dark, and all | 8 | ········ |
| The chambers emptied of delight; | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| So find I every pleasant spot | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| In which we two were wont to meet, | 8 | ········ |
| The field, the chamber and the street, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| For all is dark where thou art not. | 8 | ········ |
| Yet as that other, wandering there | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| In those deserted walks, may find | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| A flower beat with rain and wind, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Which once she foster’d up with care; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| So seems it in my deep regret, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| O my forsaken heart, with thee | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And this poor flower of poesy | 9 | ···/˘·/˘˘ |
| Which little cared for fades not yet. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But since it pleased a vanish’d eye | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I go to plant it on his tomb, | 8 | ········ |
| That if it can it there may bloom, | 8 | ········ |
| Or dying there at least may die. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
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.