Fair ship, that from the Italian shore
Fair ship, that from the Italian shore,Sailest the placid ocean-plainsWith my lost Arthur’s loved remains,Spread thy full wings, and waft him o’er.
So draw him home to those that mournIn vain; a favourable speedRuffle thy mirror’d mast, and leadThro’ prosperous floods his holy urn.
All night no ruder air perplexThy sliding keel, till Phosphor, brightAs our pure love, thro’ early lightShall glimmer on the dewy decks.
Sphere all your lights around, above;Sleep, gentle heavens, before the prow;Sleep, gentle winds, as he sleeps now,My friend, the brother of my love.
My Arthur! whom I shall not seeTill all my widow’d race be run;Dear as the mother to the son,More than my brothers are to me.
Words in this poem
- placid a.
- Pleased; contented; unruffied; undisturbed; serene; peaceful; tranquil; quiet; gentle. [L. placidus, originally, pleasing, mild, from placere to please: cf. F. placide. See Please.]
- waft v. t.
- To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon. [Prob. originally imp. & p. p. of wave, v. t. See Wave to waver.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fair ship, that from the Italian shore 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, Fair ship, that from the Italian shore, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-9.html, id L18369.
Form and metre
Fair ship, that from the Italian shore 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 87%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 40% 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 shoreA · plainsB · remainsB · o'erA
- 2 ABBA mournA · speedB · leadB · urnA
- 3 ABBA perplexA · brightB · lightB · decksA
- 4 ABBA aboveA · prowB · nowB · loveA
- 5 ABBA seeA · runB · sonB · meA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Fair ship, that from the Italian shore, | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| Sailest the placid ocean-plains | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| With my lost Arthur’s loved remains, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Spread thy full wings, and waft him o’er. | 8 | ········ |
| So draw him home to those that mourn | 8 | ········ |
| In vain; a favourable speed | 8 | ········ |
| Ruffle thy mirror’d mast, and lead | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Thro’ prosperous floods his holy urn. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| All night no ruder air perplex | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Thy sliding keel, till Phosphor, bright | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| As our pure love, thro’ early light | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Shall glimmer on the dewy decks. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Sphere all your lights around, above; | 8 | ········ |
| Sleep, gentle heavens, before the prow; | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Sleep, gentle winds, as he sleeps now, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| My friend, the brother of my love. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| My Arthur! whom I shall not see | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Till all my widow’d race be run; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Dear as the mother to the son, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| More than my brothers are to me. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
On this poem
"My lost Arthur's loved remains."
No words can be more touching than his appeal to the vessel, for care and tenderness in transporting its precious freight. He bids it come quickly; "spread thy full wings," hoist every sail; "ruffle thy mirror'd mast;" for the faster the ship is driven through the water, the more will the reflected mast be "ruffled" on its agitated surface. May no rude wind "perplex thy sliding keel," until Phosphor the morning star, Venus shines; and during the night may the lights above and the winds around be gentle as the sleep of him--
"My Arthur, whom I shall not see, Till all my widow'd race be run--"
until my life, bereaved of its first affection, be over.
In Poem xvii., 5, the same line occurs--"Till all my widow'd race be run," and it agrees with St. Paul's declaration, 2 Tim., iv., 7, "I have finished my course." The words race and course are synonymous, and refer to the foot-races of the ancients. "More than my brothers are to me," is repeated in P. lxxix., 1.
Notes from the edition 8
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 3 Phosphor, star of dawn. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 3, line 1 * ruder ' than the air which by day gave such a speed as ruffled the mirrorM mast: or possibly * too rude/ like ' nobler ' in LX. i. (so Beeching). [Bradley]
- Stanza 3, line 2 * Phosphor ': the morning star. Cf. cxxi. [Bradley]
- Stanza 4 Sphere. [Addressed to the starry heavens. Cf. Enoch Arden: Then the great stars that globed themselves in heaven.
ED.] [Hallam Tennyson] - Stanza 4, line 1 He goes back to the ' night ' of line 9. ' Sphere ': cf. Encch Arden, ' Then the great stars that globed themselves in Heaven.3 Cf. Virgil's 'magnum glomerantur in orbem.'
i/f. I cannot doubt that the words of Constance (King John. in. iv. 88) were echoing in Tennyson's mind. There
are indications in In Memoriam of other reminiscences of the same scene. [Bradley] - Stanza 5 [See below, LXXIX. — ED.] [Hallam Tennyson]
- Stanza 5, line 2 Repeated xvn. 20, where this group of poems ends. [Bradley]
- Stanza 5, line 4 This line becomes the occasion of LXXIX. [Bradley]
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