Risest thou thus, dim dawn again
Risest thou thus, dim dawn again,So loud with voices of the birds,So thick with lowings of the herds,Day, when I lost the flower of men;
Who tremblest thro’ thy darkling redOn yon swol’n brook that bubbles fastBy meadows breathing of the past,And woodlands holy to the dead;
Who murmurest in the foliaged eavesA song that slights the coming care,And Autumn laying here and thereA fiery finger on the leaves;
Who wakenest with thy balmy breathTo myriads on the genial earth,Memories of bridal, or of birth,And unto myriads more, of death.
O, wheresoever those may be,Betwixt the slumber of the poles,To-day they count as kindred souls;They know me not, but mourn with me.
Words in this poem
- darkling a.
- Becoming dark or gloomy; frowing.
- foliaged a.
- Furnished with foliage; leaved; as, the variously foliaged mulberry.
- balmy a.
- Having the qualities of balm; odoriferous; aromatic; assuaging; soothing; refreshing; mild.
- genial a.
- Contributing to, or concerned in, propagation or production; generative; procreative; productive. [L. genialis: cf. OF. genial. See Genius.]
- betwixt prep.
- In the space which separates; between. [OE. betwix, bitwix, rarely bitwixt, AS. betweox, betweohs, betweoh, betwih; pref. be- by + a form fr. AS. twa two. See Between.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Risest thou thus, dim dawn again 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, Risest thou thus, dim dawn again, in In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #70950, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-in-memoriam/section-97.html, id L18457.
Form and metre
Risest thou thus, dim dawn again 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 86%). 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 againA · birdsB · herdsB · menA
- 2 ABBA redA · fastB · pastB · deadA
- 3 ABBA eavesA · careB · thereB · leavesA
- 4 ABBA breathA · earthB · birthB · deathA
- 5 ABBA beA · polesB · soulsB · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Risest thou thus, dim dawn again, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| So loud with voices of the birds, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| So thick with lowings of the herds, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Day, when I lost the flower of men; | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Who tremblest thro’ thy darkling red | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| On yon swol’n brook that bubbles fast | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| By meadows breathing of the past, | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| And woodlands holy to the dead; | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| Who murmurest in the foliaged eaves | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| A song that slights the coming care, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And Autumn laying here and there | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| A fiery finger on the leaves; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Who wakenest with thy balmy breath | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To myriads on the genial earth, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Memories of bridal, or of birth, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| And unto myriads more, of death. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| O, wheresoever those may be, | 8 | ········ |
| Betwixt the slumber of the poles, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| To-day they count as kindred souls; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| They know me not, but mourn with me. | 8 | ········ |
On this poem
"Day, when I lost the flower of men."
The early signs of Autumn are very sweetly described, in personifying a day that will remind many of births and bridals, but still more of deaths; and wherever the sorrowing survivors may reside, they are on this day "kindred souls" with himself--though they be utter strangers--
"They know me not, but mourn with me."
This applies to all
"Betwixt the slumber of the poles,"--
from one end of the world to the other.
The poles of the earth are the ends of the axis on which the world revolves. These never move, but "slumber."
Autumn laying "a fiery finger on the leaves," is an expression similar to
"This maple burn itself away."--P. ci., 1.
"And the flying gold of the ruin'd woodlands drove thro' the air." --"Maud," stanza 3.
Notes from the edition 10
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 Z>ay, when I lost the flower of men. September the 1 5th. Cf. LXXII. ii. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 2, line 1 ' Darkling red ' probably describes the fading of rosy clouds towards blackness, not the deepening redness of a c)ear sky. Such fading is a sign of coming rain. Cf.
'dimly' (i), * swollen' (6). Most readers seem to imagine a morning sunny as well as calm and soft, but there is nothing to indicate the former. [Bradley] - Stanza 3 coming care [the hard- ship of winter. — ED.]. [Hallam Tennyson]
- Stanza 3, line 1 ' foliaged ': the word ' murmurest ' suggests the foliage of tre^s, so that 'foliaged' may mean 'overshadowed by leafy trees ': but it is more likely that it is used as in Alastor, ' foliated lattice.' Cf. D Allegro:
And at my window bid good morrow, Through the sweet-briar or the vine Or the twisted eglantine.
Mr. Ferrall, to whom I owe the observation about 'mur- murest/ suggests that ' foliaged eaves ' may even mean ' eaves of foliage,' the foliage being that of trees overshadowing the lawn. And I have seen ' eaves ' so used in poetry. [Bradley] - Stanza 3, line 4 'fiery': cf. ci. 4. [Bradley]
- Stanza 4, line 1 Contrast vi., st. 2. The expansion of feeling here prepares us for the poems about to follow. [Bradley]
- Stanza 4, line 1 'balmy breath': cf. Othello, v. ii. 16: 'Ah, balmy breath, that dost almost persuade Justice to break her sword.3 [Bradley]
- Stanza 5, line 2 Betwixt the slumber of the poles. The ends of the axis of the earth, which move so slowly that they seem not to move, but slumber. [Tennyson]
- Stanza 5, line 1 'those' of 1 6. [Bradley]
- Stanza 5, line 2 Cf. 'All things that move between the quiet poles,' Marlowe, Dr. Faustus, opening soliloquy. [Bradley]
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