In Memoriam A.H.H. (VII) - Alfred, Lord Tennyson
A Solitary Return to the Door of Grief
Dark house, by which once more I stand
Here in the long unlovely street,
Doors, where my heart was used to beat
So quickly, waiting for a hand.
A hand that can be clasp'd no more—
Behold me, for I cannot sleep,
And like a guilty thing I creep
At earliest morning to the door.
He is not here; but far away
The noise of life begins again,
And ghastly thro' the drizzling rain
On the bald street breaks the blank day.
In the seventh section of Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s long elegy "In Memoriam A.H.H.," the speaker revisits the home once associated with his late friend, Arthur Henry Hallam. The scene is hauntingly quiet—an unlovely street and a ‘Dark house’ serve as backdrops for the poet’s sorrow. By recalling how his heart once skipped with anticipation at this very door, Tennyson emphasizes the cruel finality of loss: the hand he once hoped to clasp is gone forever.
Throughout these stanzas, Tennyson captures the stark contrast between internal desolation and external routine. Dawn brings the beginning of another day—a reminder that life marches on—yet for the grieving speaker, each new morning only intensifies the ache of absence. The act of ‘creeping’ to the door at first light underscores the speaker’s emotional vulnerability and his need, despite himself, to revisit the place of past connection.
The language evokes dissonance: rain, a ‘bald street,’ and a ‘blank day’ reflect the poet’s inner emptiness. Tennyson’s diction—words like ‘ghastly’ and ‘drizzling’—reinforces the heaviness of mourning. In microcosm, Section VII underscores the elegy’s central tension between a world that continues heedlessly and a bereaved individual caught in the stillness of his loss.
Formally, these quatrains continue the poem’s typical In Memoriam stanza (ABBA rhyme scheme), which fosters both a sense of structure and a gentle, musical lament. The regularity of the meter contrasts with the emotional disturbance coursing beneath, reflecting Tennyson’s attempt to find solace and expression in carefully measured verse. Through images of a darkened threshold and a missing friend, the poet conveys that grief often transforms even the most ordinary place into a site of profound heartbreak.
Key points
• Highlights the jarring mismatch between personal grief and an indifferent, ever-moving world.
• Revisits a place of emotional significance to illuminate the finality and impact of loss.
• Uses stark, somber imagery (‘dark house,’ ‘blank day’) to reflect the speaker’s desolation.
• Continues the formal In Memoriam stanza pattern, marrying strict rhyme with raw sorrow.
• Emphasizes how daily routines can become poignant reminders of a beloved one’s absence.