Lyric Poem · Death & Loss
In Memoriam 44: How fares it with the happy dead?
1How fares it with the happy dead?
2For here the man is more and more;
3But he forgets the days before
4God shut the doorways of his head.
5The days have vanish'd, tone and tint,
6And yet perhaps the hoarding sense
7Gives out at times (he knows not whence)
8A little flash, a mystic hint;
9And in the long harmonious years
10(If Death so taste Lethean springs),
11May some dim touch of earthly things
12Surprise thee ranging with thy peers.
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“In Memoriam 44: How fares it with the happy dead?” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson — quilloak.com/poems/in-memoriam-44-how-fares-it-with-the-happy-dead
Quick facts
- Poem
- In Memoriam 44: How fares it with the happy dead?
- Poet
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson
- Length
- 16 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Death & Loss, Peace
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
- 16 lines · 2 stanzas of 4–12 lines
- Line length
- Mostly 8-syllable lines (tetrameter length).
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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 44: How fares it with the happy dead? 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 48e27cf3a0135ffd…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.