. 4tM 
 
 
 r^ 
 
ANALYSIS OF MR. TENNYSON'S 
 
 "IN MEMORIAM." 
 
 By the late 
 
 Rev. Frederick W. Robertson 
 
 OP BRIGHTON-. 
 
 TWELFTH EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 KEGAN PAUL. TRENCH, & CO., i PATERNOSTER SQUARE. 
 
 1884. 
 
[J'lie rights of translation and of reproduction arc 7-ese)fed) 
 
BV PERMISSION, THESE NOTES ON THK 
 
 "IN MEiMORIAM" 
 
 ARE DEDICATED TO 
 
 / 
 
 ALFRED TENNYSON, D.C.L 
 
 POET LAUREATE, 
 
 IN TOKEN OF THEIR AUTHOR'S REVERENCB 
 
 FOR HIS WORKS. 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arcliive 
 
 in 2007 witli funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 littp://www.arcliive.org/details/analysisofmrtennOOrobeiala 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The following Notes on " In Memoriam " 
 were written by Mr. Robertfon at the 
 requeft of a friend ; and now that the 
 memory of the Writer holds in fo many 
 minds a pofition analogous to that defcribed 
 in the Poem, it has been thought that thefe 
 Notes might intereft the much wider public 
 who know Mr. Robertfon only through his 
 works. 
 
 The fubjoined extract from a Lecture 
 on Poetry delivered by Mr. Robertfon 
 feveral years ago will ferve to indicate his 
 general eftimate of this exqulfite Poem: — 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 ** This Ledlure* will be appropriately 
 clofed by a brief notice of the laft work 
 of our chief living poet, Alfred Tennyfon. 
 
 '' The poem entitled ' In Memoriam ' is a 
 monument eredled by friendfliip to the 
 memory of a gifted fon of the hiftorian 
 Hallam. It is divided into a number of 
 cabinet-like compartments, which, with fine 
 and delicate fhadas of difference, exhibit the 
 various phafes through which the bereaved 
 fpirit paffes from the first fhock of despair, 
 dull, hopelefs mifery and rebellion, up to the 
 dawn of hope, acquiefcent trull, and even 
 calm happinefs again. In the meanwhile 
 many a queftion has been folved, which can 
 only suggeft itfelf when fuffering forces the 
 foul to front the realities of our myfterious 
 exiftence j fuch as : Is there indeed a life 
 
 * From "I/e<ftures and Addrelfes," by the Rev. F. W 
 Robertlon. Pp. 1 24.-1 26. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 to come ? And if there is, will it be a 
 confcious life? Shall 1 know that myfelf? 
 Will there be mutual recognition ? conti- 
 nuance of attachments ? Shall friend meet 
 friend, and brother brother, as friends and 
 brothecs ? Or, again : How comes it that 
 one fo gifted was taken away fo early, in 
 the maturity of his powers, juft at the moment 
 when they feemed about to become available 
 to mankind ? What means all this, and is 
 there not fomething wrong? Is the law of 
 Creation Love indeed r 
 
 *' By flow degrees, all thefe doubts, and 
 worfe, are anfwered ; not as a philofopher 
 would answer them, nor as a theologian, or 
 a metaphyfician, but as it is the duty of a 
 poet to reply, by intuitive faculty, in ftrains 
 in which Imagination predominates over 
 Thought and Memory. And one of the 
 manifold beauties of this exquilite poem, and 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 which is another chara(flerill:ic of true Poetry, 
 is that, piercing through all the fophiftries 
 and over-refinements of fpeculation, and the 
 Hfelefs fcepticifm of fcience, it falls back 
 upon the grand, primary, fimple truths of 
 our Humanity ; thofe firft principles which 
 underlie all creeds, which belong to our earlieft 
 childhood, and on which the wifeft and 
 beft have refted through all ages : that all 
 is right : that darknefs fliall be clear : that 
 God and Time are the only interpreters ; 
 that Love is king : that the Immortal is in 
 us: that — which is the key-note of the 
 whole — 
 
 ' all is well, though Faith and Form 
 Be fundered in the night of fear.' 
 
 " To a coarfer clafs of minds ' In 
 Memoriam ' appears too melancholy : one 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 long monotone of grief. It is fimply one of the 
 moft viftorious fongs that ever poet chanted : 
 with the myfterious undertone^ no doubt, 
 of fadnefs which belongs to all human joy, 
 in front of the myfteries of death and 
 forrow ; but that belongs to * Paradife 
 Regained * as well as to ' Paradife Loft :' 
 to every true note, indeed, of human triumph 
 except a Bacchanalian drinking fong. And 
 that it fhould predominate in a monumental 
 record is not particularly unnatural. But 
 readers who never dream of maftering the 
 plan of a work before they pretend to criticife 
 details, can fcarcely be expedled to perceive 
 that the wail pafTes into a hymn of folemn 
 and peaceful beauty before it clofes." 
 
ANALYSIS 
 
 IN memoriam; 
 
 T OSS may be gain when Grief is cheriftied 
 by Love. 
 
 THIRST mood of forrow. The eternal 
 gloom of the yew tree is felt to be 
 congenial. 
 
ANALYSIS OF 
 
 XyfiSGiviNGS refpe^ting the wifdom of 
 cherifhing grief, feeing it has robed the 
 univerfe in its own darknefs. 
 
 qTRUGGLE of the Will with the helpleflhefs* 
 and aimleflhefs of grief 
 
 T 
 
 HE heart finds relief in metrical exprefllon. 
 
" IN MEMORIAM." 
 
 INSUFFICIENCY of" the common-place con- 
 folation fuggefted by the commonnefs of 
 bereavement. 
 
 "pvESOLATiON realifed. The well-known 
 door in the dawn of a grey, drizzling 
 morning. 
 
ANALYSIS OF 
 
 8 
 
 CADiNG of the light from all things in 
 the abfence of the ioved. The foftered 
 flower. 
 
 TJENISON on the Ihip which brings 
 back the remains ot one " more than a 
 brother." 
 
" IN MEMORIAM.' 
 
 10 
 
 A CERTAIN natural inftindt of feeling 
 conne6ts the idea of reft with a Chriftian 
 grave on fhore rather than with one at 
 fea. 
 
 II 
 
 T 
 
 HE calm. 
 
 12 
 
 A BSENCE in fpirit with the fhip. 
 
T 
 
 ANALYSIS OF 
 
 EARS of the widowed heart. 
 
 14 
 'VJ ATURAL conception of the departed as if 
 he were living ftill. Death at firft impoflible 
 to realife. (Compare Wordfworth's " We 
 are Seven.") 
 
 15 
 
 QiMULTANEOUS feelings of calm defpair and 
 wild unreft finding fomething in the tempeft 
 both harmonious and difcordant with them- 
 felves. 
 
"in memoriam." 
 
 i6 
 
 ^URPRISE at the contrafl: between the 
 apparentiv inconfiftent forms of grief. 
 
 '■pHE fhip arrives ; henceforth facred to 
 imagination. 
 
 i8 
 
 '"pHE quiet Englifti grave. Funeral 
 
 feelings. 
 
ANALYSIS OF 
 
 '9 
 
 'T~»HE periodical ebb and flow of grief. 
 
 20 
 
 A^'UTE moods of grief, and moods which 
 find utterance. 
 
 21 
 
 "Q UDE blame caft upon thefe complaints : 
 yet great Nature has her way, and Sorrow 
 its rights. 
 
** IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 22 
 
 'HE ftiadow of death. 
 
 23 
 
 "Q ECOLLECTioNS of early communings. 
 
 24 
 
 /^UERY : How much the Paft owes its 
 feeming perfedtnefs to imagination ? 
 
ANALYSIS OF 
 
 25 
 
 O EPLY : Life's burden was halved by Love. 
 It is fo halved no longer. 
 
 26 
 
 'T*HE idea of death lefs dreadful than the 
 conception of the poffibility of forgetting. 
 
 TL 
 
 27 
 o have loved is bleflednefs in itfelf. 
 
IN MEMORIAM 
 
 28 
 
 QooTHiNG power of Chriftmas bells, which 
 blend old aflbciations of boyhood with 
 prefent bitternefs. 
 
 29 
 
 /^HRiSTMAS-EVE kept for ancient cuftom's 
 fake. 
 
 30 
 
 /CHRISTMAS - i>AY. Succeffive moods. 
 
 Forced mirth fucceeded by tears, filence, 
 and then by degrees fweeter hope. 
 
ANALYSIS OF 
 
 31 
 
 PRESENT ftate of the departed. Queftions 
 thereon fuggefted by the peculiar cafe of 
 Lazarus. 
 
 32 
 
 T AZARUs' fifter. Love fuperfeded and 
 intensified by higher love. 
 
 33 
 
 ■pvANGER of unfettling fimple faith by 
 unfixing it from form. 
 
*' IN MEMORIAM.' 
 
 34 
 
 npHE univerfe a dark enigma, and life 
 meaninglefs, feparate irom the fuppofition ot 
 immortality. 
 
 35 
 
 A ND love itfelf without that belief would 
 be a fatyr's feeling. 
 
 36 
 
 'T^HE bleffing of having Truth incarnated in 
 a Life in Chrift. 
 
ANALYSIS UF 
 
 3/ 
 
 'T~'HE apology. Appearance of profanation 
 in the introdu<Slion of revealed truths. 
 
 38 
 A DREARY path folaced by fong. 
 
 39 
 
 [Not publiftied in the early Editions.] 
 
 40 
 
 pvEATH the fpirit's bridal-day. But the 
 bride returns to her friends : not fo the fpirit. 
 
IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 41 
 
 T TAGUE fufpicion of eternal feverance by 
 immeafurable inferiority. 
 
 42 
 
 VTET reunion in place may reftore the 
 attitude of loving difciplefliip in fpite of 
 inferiority. 
 
 +3 
 
 TF death be unconfcious trance, love, as 
 after fleep, will begin again. 
 
ANALYSIS OF 
 
 44 
 
 Ts the life beyond merely oblivion, mixed 
 up with gleams of recollection, as here ? 
 
 45 
 
 TS this material exiftence given to teach the 
 "Me" and the "Not Me?" 
 
 46 
 
 ^-pHE five years of paft friendftiip will be 
 a warm and frefh memory hereafter. 
 
IK iMF.MORIAM 
 
 47 
 
 T OVE {brinks from Pantheifm, and demands 
 mutual recognition and feparate identity 
 hereafter. 
 
 4.8 
 
 npHESE lays are phafes of feeling rather 
 than accurate inveltigations of the deep 
 queftions mooted in them. 
 
 49 
 
 '"pHEY play upon the furface of grief, but 
 leave its deeps untouched. 
 
'INALYSIS or 
 
 50 
 
 rjE ftiall be a light, a life, a faith, a hope, 
 a prefence. 
 
 51 
 
 T FEAR not the eye of the (like God) 
 all-feeine dead. 
 
 52 
 
 T WILL not complain becaufe my love is 
 imperfedl. There is a needs-be even in 
 fault. It may be mourned too much. 
 
*' IN MEMORIAM.' 
 
 53 
 
 '"pHE needs-be of evil is truth in retrorpe<fi, 
 falfehood and perilous in profpedl. 
 
 54 
 
 /^UT of the human heart a vague cry 
 anticipates the final edu6lion of good from evil. 
 
 55 
 
 "nuT Nature and Experience feeming to 
 negative the hope of individual immortality, 
 there is nothing left to reft it on but Faith. 
 
ANALYSIS OF 
 
 56 
 
 '"pHE hideous "No" of Nature. 
 
 57 
 
 ''T^HE echo of the funeral bell. 
 
 A 
 
 58 
 
 LOFTIER mood of farewell. 
 
1. 
 
 't IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 59 
 
 Not publifhed in the Firft Edition.] 
 
 60 
 owLY love : its mifgivings. 
 
 61 
 
 TTET it can plead, even to one fublimely 
 above it, that it is love. 
 
 62 
 
 '-I- HOUGH an unworthy love, once paft, 
 perifties. 
 
ANALYSIS OF 
 
 63 
 
 V^ET the higher Being may in fome fort 
 feel for the afFeilion borne to it by the 
 inferior. 
 
 64 
 
 "pvoES the fpirit retain tender recolleftions 
 ot its former home and former friend ? 
 
 ^5 
 
 "pERCHANCE then, that friend's former 
 influence may ftill incite to noble ends. 
 
" IN MEMORIAM.' 
 
 66 
 
 TN the midft of utter defolation there comes 
 a kindly cheerfulnefs like that of the blind. 
 
 67 
 
 /^N retiring to reft, Fancy piilures the 
 appearance of the Tablet in different hours 
 and lights. 
 
 68 
 
 TN dreams, by an illufion, the fadnefs of 
 the mourner is transferred to the loft, and 
 he is- conceived of as fad too. 
 
j^NALYSIS OF 
 
 69 
 
 TTTsioN of the Angel and the Crown of 
 thorns. 
 
 "pvARKNESs. Attempt to recall the well- 
 known features. Fancy fantaftically blends 
 the image of the loft with the objeds of a 
 confufed phantafmagoria. • 
 
 71 
 
 A T laft one epoch of paft hiftory prefents 
 itfelf with Angular vividnefs. 
 
" IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 72 
 
 A NNiVERSARY of the lofs. A grey, cheer- 
 leis day. 
 
 73 
 
 "O EGRET for the cutting fhort of the 
 promife of fame, ftilled, however, by the 
 thought that all fame faHes, and that it is 
 enough to know that there was that which 
 would have achieved fame. 
 
ANALYSIS OF 
 
 74 
 
 "KTOW that he is dead, his kindred with 
 the wifeft and beft becomes recognifed as a 
 family likenefs. 
 
 75 
 
 QOMEWHERE, furely, in the univerfe, he is 
 now achieving fame. 
 
 76 
 
 T7LEETINGNESS of reputation here. 
 
" IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 77 
 
 '"pHESE lays will be forgotten : but they 
 are breathed not for fame : only for relief. 
 
 A" 
 
 78 
 
 NOTHER Chriftmas. Tears are dried. 
 
 There is even mirth j but beneath, the 
 quiet fenfe of fomething loft ftill remains. 
 
 79 
 C'RiENDSHiP, why more than brotherhood. 
 A brother is onefelf over again. A friend 
 is the lupplement of deficiencies. 
 
ANALYSIS OF 
 
 80 
 
 ■rjow would he have felt my lofs ? Lef 
 me try Co to feel his. 
 
 81 
 
 TT 7ELL, death has matured the love which 
 I might mourn as prematurely cut off. 
 
 82 
 
 'HE real bitternefe of death is the 
 
 npi 
 
 interruption of communion. 
 
" IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 83 
 
 '-pHE new year. Renewal of hope. 
 
 84 
 
 A CONCEPTION of what he would have 
 been had he lived to be united by ties of 
 blood : a blended life and united death. 
 
 85 
 
 SECOND friendfhip poffible; but not equal 
 
 A 
 
 to the firft. 
 
ANALYSIS OF 
 
 86 
 
 r)EACE coming through natural influences. 
 
 87 
 
 "p ECOLLECTIONS of the coUcge friendftiip. 
 
 npHE contrails of fierce grief and wild joy 
 in the nightingale's foiig. 
 
 89 
 
 "p ECOLLECTIONS of his going down to the 
 country retreat. 
 
" IN MEMORIAM.** 
 90 
 
 "VTO alteration of circumftances, no new 
 relationfliips, could make his return to life 
 unwelcome. 
 
 91 
 
 npHE thought of him affociates itfelf brightly 
 with the fpring. 
 
 92 
 
 npHE certainty of feparation has become 
 fixed. (Contralt this with the fentiment ot 
 No. 14.) 
 
ANALYSIS OF 
 
 93 
 
 "W^T furely, his very felf might return. 
 Oh come ! 
 
 94 
 
 ERENITY of foul needful for communion 
 
 S 
 
 with the dead. 
 
 95 
 
 ■Q EPERUSAL of his letters after a fummcr 
 evening fpent upon the lawn. 
 
*' IN MEMORIAM.* 
 
 96 
 
 TTOW he emerged into faith through doubt. 
 
 97 
 
 A FRIENDSHIP which rcfembled a marriage, 
 the union of a male and female fpirit. 
 
 98 
 
 T7IENNA, where he died : a glorious city 
 — to his conception, difmal. , 
 
 OS 
 
ANALYSIS OF 
 99 
 
 A NOTHKR anniverfary of his death. 1\> 
 many, as to me, one of forrow. They are 
 my brothers. 
 
 100 
 
 ^N this day all things bring him back 
 me by aflbciation ; and he dies afrefh. 
 
 to 
 
 lOI 
 
 '"pHOUGHTS on quitting the home of child- 
 hood. Round all thefe fpots and objedls 
 new aflbciations will gather for ftrangers. 
 
*' IN MEMORIAM," 
 
 102 
 
 rpvERY fpot has a twofold aflbciation: one 
 of happy childhood, the other of bereaved 
 friendfhip. 
 
 103 
 
 npHE night before the departure a vifion 
 prefents the thought, that, his memory 
 going with us, the fpirit of all that is wife 
 and good and graceful fails with us in thf 
 life- voyage. 
 
ANALYSIS OF 
 
 104 
 
 '"pHE found of the unfamiliar church bells 
 (of the new parifh) heard by night. 
 
 105 
 
 /^HRiSTMAS-EVE in the new home — how 
 different ! Old cuftoms cannot be trans- 
 planted hither. 
 
 106 
 
 'VTEW year bells. " Forget the things 
 behind." 
 
" IN MEMORIAM.' 
 
 lo: 
 
 r Tis birthday celebrated cheerfully. 
 
 io8 
 
 TTUMAN fympathy needful to ripen the 
 fruit of forrow. 
 
 W 
 
 109 
 
 HAT he was. 
 
 H 
 
 no 
 
 IS influence on others. 
 
ANALYSIS 0J« 
 
 III 
 
 '"pHE perfedt gentleman. 
 
 112 
 
 '"pHE inexhauftiblenefs and growth of his 
 
 nature. 
 
 "3 
 /^NE who would have been equal to all 
 emergencies. 
 
 114 
 
 "ly'NowLEDGE lefs high than charity. In 
 him both were blended. 
 
" IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 QPRiNG : and fpring hopes. 
 
 116 
 
 "n EviviNG Nature fuggefts feelings in which 
 regret for paft friendfhip pafTes away in 
 anticipations of a ftronger bond which is 
 CO be. 
 
 117 
 
 '■pHis feparation will only enhance the 
 bleflednefs of meeting. 
 
ANALYSIS OF 
 
 ii8 
 
 '"TpHE paft hiftory ot cieation, paffing from 
 chaos into life, is a type of our exiftence, 
 which furely is to afcend from the animal 
 into the fpiritual. He is nobler than he 
 
 was. 
 
 119 
 
 TV^EMORY can recall and dwell upon the 
 thought of him now without a pang. 
 
" IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 120 
 
 -npHE good which has come from thefe 
 utterances, proves the ethereal nature of 
 our humanity, which is influenced by caufes 
 more fubtle and refined than the phrenolo- 
 uift and materialift dream of. 
 
 121 
 
 rjESPER - Phosphor. Grief has flowly 
 changed its mood, as the evening ftar 
 pafTes into the morning ftar. 
 
ANALYSIS OF 
 
 122 
 
 A PROFOUND fenfe of bleflednefs, amounr- 
 ing even to ecftacy. 
 
 123 
 
 'VTO farewell to him. Amidft the change- 
 fulnefs of the outward world, my fpirit 
 remains fteadfaft. 
 
 124 
 
 'T~<HE atheifm of the Underftanding is anni- 
 hilated by the Heart. We feel God — do 
 not find Him out. 
 
" IN MEMORIAM." 
 
 125 
 
 r^VEN in the bittereft notes of thei'e 
 drains, Love and Hope were never entirely 
 abfent. 
 
 126 
 
 T OVE fays, " ..^11 is well. 
 
 127 
 
 A MIDST the anarchy of nations, all Is 
 moving on to God, and his fpirit knows 
 
 It. 
 
ANALYSIS OF 
 
 128 
 
 '-T^His ftruggle and victory of Love with 
 Doubt have given an infight into the courfe 
 of human things, and taught truft in the 
 final ifllie. 
 
 129 
 
 ■powER in this friendfliip to ennoble life ; 
 and reciprocal influence of a noble life to 
 intenfify the friendfliip. 
 
" IN MEMORIAM." 
 
 130 
 
 TTE becomes an univerfal Prefence, to be 
 felt everywhere, and tor ever. 
 
 '-T-^HERE are truths which are to be proved 
 only by faith and feeling. 
 
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