Lyric Poem · Death & Loss
In Memoriam 121: Sad Hesper o'er the buried sun
1Sad Hesper o'er the buried sun
2And ready, thou, to die with him,
3Thou watchest all things ever dim
4And dimmer, and a glory done:
5The team is loosen'd from the wain,
6The boat is drawn upon the shore;
7Thou listenest to the closing door,
8And life is darken'd in the brain.
9Bright Phosphor, fresher for the night,
10By thee the world's great work is heard
11Beginning, and the wakeful bird;
12Behind thee comes the greater light:
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“In Memoriam 121: Sad Hesper o'er the buried sun” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson — quilloak.com/poems/in-memoriam-121-sad-hesper-oer-the-buried-sun
Quick facts
- Poem
- In Memoriam 121: Sad Hesper o'er the buried sun
- Poet
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson
- Length
- 20 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Death & Loss, Nature
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 20 lines · 3 stanzas of 4–12 lines
- Line length
- Mostly 8-syllable lines (tetrameter length).
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson1809–1892
- Source record
- PoetryDBIn Memoriam 121: Sad Hesper o'er the buried sun by alfred-lord-tennyson, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 7f29843b14acb1df…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.