Victorian Verse - In Memoriam VII - Tennyson

In Memoriam is an ELEGY – a poem which mourns someone’s death.  The form originated in Greece and classical elegies follow a set structure in response to the death –lament (crying and wailing), praise of the dead person, consolation and solace – a reconciliation with the fact of death and often, hope of a better life to come.   There are elements of this tri-partite structure in Tennyson’s long poem, written over a period of more than 10 years.  At first his grief is overwhelming and he focuses on his feelings.  He then moves into a period of doubting the meaning of life and questioning the doctrine of an after life.  There is, in fact, very little description or personal reference to Hallam as an individual.  The later sections struggle with this doubt and perhaps arrive at an uneasy resolution.  

This first extract is from the early part of the poem and could be categorised as a lament – the focus is on how Tennyson feels in the aftermath of his loss.  He is not yet sufficiently detached from the initial shock and grief to be able to either praise his friend or be comforted.  It is raw and painful.  Compare this extract with number CXIX which comes late in the sequence.  It starts in the same way.  Note the difference in emotion; there is a feeling of consolation or peace.

This, like the whole poem, is written in iambic tetrameter – lines with four iambic (unstressed/stressed – ti-TUM) beats with a consistent rhyme scheme - abba.  This heightens the feeling of obsession.  Variation is created by the use of enjambment.

In Memoriam - AHH

VII

Dark house[LC1] , by which once more I stand
Here in the long unlovely [LC2] street,
Doors, where my heart was used to beat
So quickly[LC3] , waiting for a hand,

A hand[LC4]  that can be clasp'd no more—
Behold me, for I cannot sleep,
And like a guilty thing I creep[LC5] 
At earliest morning to the door.

He is not here[LC6] ; but far away
The noise of life [LC7] begins again,
And ghastly[LC8]  thro' the drizzling rain[LC9] 
On the bald street breaks the blank day[LC10] .

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 [LC1]He opens with a direct address to the ”house” and, in line 3, the “Doors”.  He is asking these inanimate objects to look at him – “Behold me” (line 6); the personification emphasises the emptiness of the house and the contrast with the former welcome he received from Hallam at this house whilst he was alive. 

 [LC2]This alliteration is typical Tennyson – alliteration is one of his favourite techniques.  See it also in the last line.   Notice again the personification of the street – but “unlovely“ now that Hallam is not on it. 

 [LC3]Notice the enjambment emphasising his former emotions

 [LC4]The use of anaphora (repetition) is another feature of Tennyson.  Here he is using it to contrast his former meetings with Hallam and the present absence. Everything is the same – the house, the door - and yet utterly changed.

 [LC5]There is a sense here that he is aware of the extreme of his grief – is it normal?  People do, however, go back to places where they experienced happier times when they are in mourning.

 [LC6]This is an echo from the New Testament.  These are the words the Angel said to Mary Magdalene when she found Christ’s tomb empty and later mistakes Jesus for the gardener.  This is evidence of Tennyson’s worship of Hallam – there are other images of him as Christ-like in the long poem.

 [LC7]Life is reduced to “noise” only – sound without meaning.  A similar idea can be found in Macbeth – Life is “a tale/Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,/Signifying nothing.”

 [LC8]“ghastly” is used here close to the modern meaning of “awful” but also with the older meaning of “terrifying” which is closely related to “ghost” – an example of multiple layering of meaning in a single word.

 [LC9]Use of pathetic fallacy projecting his feelings onto the weather

 [LC10]One of the most famous lines in Tennyson’s poetry.  Note the alliteration of the “b” – like a hammer blow, the use of mono-syllabic words, the personification – the street is “bald”, as in devoid of life, the day is “blank” – empty and lifeless.  But the use of “blank” is also hyperllage (or “transferred epithet”) – the transference of Tennyson’s emotions to the street, now that it is devoid of Hallam.