Tennyson’s In Memoriam, A. H. H.
Reading Notes
Tennyson’s poem consists of 131 sections, each section a
lyric poem capable of being read on its own but also part of a larger movement
or narrative. Given how quickly we are moving through even this shortened
version of the poem, feel free to skim through parts to get a sense of the
whole and read more deeply and carefully those sections that appeal to you. You
might also find it helpful to focus on the following sections:
Sections 1-14, especially 6
(initial sorrow, despair, doubt, passivity, loss of meaning)
Sections 27, 28, and 30 (the first
Christmas without Hallam)
Sections 54-56 (the so-called “evolution”
lyrics) (see also 57 and 58 below)
Sections 78, 80 (the second
Christmas without Hallam)
Sections 86, 89 (Nature, idyllic
past, joy?)
Sections 95-96 (recovery? faith
and doubt)
Sections 104-106 (the third
Christmas without Hallam)
Section 108 (return to community?)
Sections 117-118 (time, types;
responds to 55 and 56)
Sections 120, 123, 124, and
epilogue (resolution?)
Key Missing Sections
57
Peace; come away: the song of woe
Is after all an earthly song:
Peace; come away: we do him wrong
To sing so wildly: let us go.
Come; let us go: your cheeks are pale;
But half my life I leave behind:
Methinks my friend is richly shrined;
But I shall pass; my work will fail.
Yet in these ears, till hearing dies,
One set slow bell will seem to toll
The passing of the sweetest soul
That ever look'd with human eyes.
I hear it now, and o'er and o'er,
Eternal greetings to the dead;
And `Ave, Ave, Ave,' said,
'Adieu, adieu,' for evermore.
Is after all an earthly song:
Peace; come away: we do him wrong
To sing so wildly: let us go.
Come; let us go: your cheeks are pale;
But half my life I leave behind:
Methinks my friend is richly shrined;
But I shall pass; my work will fail.
Yet in these ears, till hearing dies,
One set slow bell will seem to toll
The passing of the sweetest soul
That ever look'd with human eyes.
I hear it now, and o'er and o'er,
Eternal greetings to the dead;
And `Ave, Ave, Ave,' said,
'Adieu, adieu,' for evermore.
58
In those sad words I took farewell:
Like echoes in sepulchral halls,
As drop by drop the water falls
In vaults and catacombs, they fell;
And, falling, idly broke the peace
Of hearts that beat from day to day,
Half-conscious of their dying clay,
And those cold crypts where they shall cease.
The high Muse answer'd: `Wherefore grieve
Thy brethren with a fruitless tear?
Abide a little longer here,
And thou shalt take a nobler leave.'
