To the Rev. F. D. Maurice
Come, when no graver cares employ,God-father, come and see your boy:Your presence will be sun in winter,Making the little one leap for joy.
For, being of that honest few,Who give the Fiend himself his due,Should eighty-thousand college-councilsThunder 'Anathema,' friend, at you;
Should all our churchmen foam in spiteAt you, so careful of the right,Yet one lay-hearth would give you welcome(Take it and come) to the Isle of Wight;
Where, far from noise and smoke of town,I watch the twilight falling brownAll round a careless-order'd gardenClose to the ridge of a noble down.
You'll have no scandal while you dine,But honest talk and wholesome wine.And only hear the magpie gossipGarrulous under a roof of pine:
For groves of pine on either hand,To break the blast of winter, stand;And further on, the hoary ChannelTumbles a breaker on chalk and sand;
Where, if below the milky steepSome ship of battle slowly creep,And on thro' zones of light and shadowGlimmer away to the lonely deep,
We might discuss the Northern sinWhich made a selfish war begin;Dispute the claims, arrange the chances;Emperor, Ottoman, which shall win:
Or whether war's avenging rodShall lash all Europe into blood;Till you should turn to dearer matters,Dear to the man that is dear to God;
How best to help the slender store,How mend the dwellings, of the poor;How gain in life, as life advances,Valour and charity more and more.
Come, Maurice, come: the lawn as yetIs hoar with rime, or spongy-wet;But when the wreath of March has blossom'd,Crocus, anemone, violet,
Or later, pay one visit here,For those are few we hold as dear;Nor pay but one, but come for many,Many and many a happy year.
Words in this poem
- graver n.
- One who graves; an engraver or a sculptor; one whose occupation is te cut letters or figures in stone or other hard material.
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- wight n.
- A whit; a bit; a jot. [OE. wight, wiht, a wight, a whit, AS. wiht, wuht, a creature, a thing; skin to D. wicht a child, OS. & OHG. wiht a creature, thing, G. wicht a creature, Icel. v]
- scandal n.
- Offense caused or experienced; reproach or reprobation called forth by what is regarded as wrong, criminal, heinous, or flagrant: opprobrium or disgrace. [F. scandale, fr. L. scandalum, Gr. scandle, OF. escandle. See Slander.]
- dine v. i.
- To eat the principal regular meal of the day; to take dinner. [F. dîner, OF. disner, LL. disnare, contr. fr. an assumed disjunare; dis- + an assumed junare (OF. juner) to fast, for L. jejunare, fr. jejunus fasting. See Jeju]
- garrulous a.
- Talking much, especially about commonplace or trivial things; talkative; loquacious. [L. garrulus, fr. garrire to chatter, talk; cf. Gr. Call.]
- hoary a.
- White or whitish."The hoary willows."
- breaker n.
- One who, or that which, breaks.
- discuss v. t.
- To break to pieces; to shatter. Sir T. Browne. [L. discussus, p. p. of discutere to strike asunder (hence came the sense to separate mentally, distinguish); dis- + quatere to shake, strike. See Quash.]
- 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,]
- hoar v. t.
- To become moldy or musty. [AS. harian to grow gray.]
- rime n.
- A rent or long aperture; a chink; a fissure; a crack. Sir T. [L. rima.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To the Rev. F. D. Maurice is in the public domain. This text is taken from Maud, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #56913; 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, To the Rev. F. D. Maurice, in Poems (1832–1842), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56913, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tennyson-poems/to-the-rev-f-d-maurice.html, id L03531.
Form and metre
To the Rev. F. D. Maurice is 48 lines in 12 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 12 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 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 AA-A employA · boyA · winter · joyA
- 2 AA-A fewA · dueA · councils · youA
- 3 AA-A spiteA · rightA · welcome · wightA
- 4 AAAA townA · brownA · gardenA · downA
- 5 AA-A dineA · wineA · gossip · pineA
- 6 AA-A handA · standA · channel · sandA
- 7 AA-A steepA · creepA · shadow · deepA
- 8 AA-A sinA · beginA · chances · winA
- 9 A--A rodA · blood · matters · godA
- 10 A--A storeA · poor · advances · moreA
- 11 AA-A yetA · wetA · blossom'd · violetA
- 12 AA-A hereA · dearA · many · yearA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Come, when no graver cares employ, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| God-father, come and see your boy: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Your presence will be sun in winter, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Making the little one leap for joy. | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| For, being of that honest few, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Who give the Fiend himself his due, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Should eighty-thousand college-councils | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Thunder 'Anathema,' friend, at you; | 8 | /˘˘/˘··· |
| Should all our churchmen foam in spite | 8 | ··//˘··· |
| At you, so careful of the right, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Yet one lay-hearth would give you welcome | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| (Take it and come) to the Isle of Wight; | 9 | ········· |
| Where, far from noise and smoke of town, | 8 | ········ |
| I watch the twilight falling brown | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| All round a careless-order'd garden | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| Close to the ridge of a noble down. | 9 | ······/˘· |
| You'll have no scandal while you dine, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But honest talk and wholesome wine. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And only hear the magpie gossip | 9 | ·/˘··/·/˘ |
| Garrulous under a roof of pine: | 8 | /˘······ |
| For groves of pine on either hand, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To break the blast of winter, stand; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And further on, the hoary Channel | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Tumbles a breaker on chalk and sand; | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| Where, if below the milky steep | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Some ship of battle slowly creep, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And on thro' zones of light and shadow | 9 | ·······/· |
| Glimmer away to the lonely deep, | 9 | /˘˘/··/˘· |
| We might discuss the Northern sin | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Which made a selfish war begin; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Dispute the claims, arrange the chances; | 9 | ˘/··˘/·/˘ |
| Emperor, Ottoman, which shall win: | 8 | /˘/˘˘··· |
| Or whether war's avenging rod | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Shall lash all Europe into blood; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Till you should turn to dearer matters, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Dear to the man that is dear to God; | 9 | ········· |
| How best to help the slender store, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| How mend the dwellings, of the poor; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| How gain in life, as life advances, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Valour and charity more and more. | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Come, Maurice, come: the lawn as yet | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| Is hoar with rime, or spongy-wet; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But when the wreath of March has blossom'd, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Crocus, anemone, violet, | 8 | /˘/˘·/˘˘ |
| Or later, pay one visit here, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| For those are few we hold as dear; | 8 | ········ |
| Nor pay but one, but come for many, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Many and many a happy year. | 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.