“Tithonus” Summary

“Tithonus” Themes

• 

  Old Age and Death

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• 

  Hubris and Transgression

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• 

  Grief and Memory

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Tithonus”

• Lines 1-6

  The woods decay, the woods decay and fall,
  The vapours weep their burthen to the ground,
  Man comes and tills the field and lies beneath,
  And after many a summer dies the swan.
  Me only cruel immortality
  Consumes:

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 6-10

  I wither slowly in thine arms,
  Here at the quiet limit of the world,
  A white-hair'd shadow roaming like a dream
  The ever-silent spaces of the East,
  Far-folded mists, and gleaming halls of morn.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-17

           Alas! for this gray shadow, once a man—
  So glorious in his beauty and thy choice,
  Who madest him thy chosen, that he seem'd
  To his great heart none other than a God!
  I ask'd thee, 'Give me immortality.'
  Then didst thou grant mine asking with a smile,
  Like wealthy men, who care not how they give.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 18-23

  But thy strong Hours indignant work'd their wills,
  And beat me down and marr'd and wasted me,
  And tho' they could not end me, left me maim'd
  To dwell in presence of immortal youth,
  Immortal age beside immortal youth,
  And all I was, in ashes.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 23-31

  Can thy love,
  Thy beauty, make amends, tho' even now,
  Close over us, the silver star, thy guide,
  Shines in those tremulous eyes that fill with tears
  To hear me? Let me go: take back thy gift:
  Why should a man desire in any way
  To vary from the kindly race of men
  Or pass beyond the goal of ordinance
  Where all should pause, as is most meet for all?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 32-36

           A soft air fans the cloud apart; there comes
  A glimpse of that dark world where I was born.
  Once more the old mysterious glimmer steals
  From thy pure brows, and from thy shoulders pure,
  And bosom beating with a heart renew'd.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 37-42

  Thy cheek begins to redden thro' the gloom,
  Thy sweet eyes brighten slowly close to mine,
  Ere yet they blind the stars, and the wild team
  Which love thee, yearning for thy yoke, arise,
  And shake the darkness from their loosen'd manes,
  And beat the twilight into flakes of fire.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 43-49

           Lo! ever thus thou growest beautiful
  In silence, then before thine answer given
  Departest, and thy tears are on my cheek.
           Why wilt thou ever scare me with thy tears,
  And make me tremble lest a saying learnt,
  In days far-off, on that dark earth, be true?
  'The Gods themselves cannot recall their gifts.'

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 50-57

           Ay me! ay me! with what another heart
  In days far-off, and with what other eyes
  I used to watch—if I be he that watch'd—
  The lucid outline forming round thee; saw
  The dim curls kindle into sunny rings;
  Changed with thy mystic change, and felt my blood
  Glow with the glow that slowly crimson'd all
  Thy presence and thy portals,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 57-63

  while I lay,
  Mouth, forehead, eyelids, growing dewy-warm
  With kisses balmier than half-opening buds
  Of April, and could hear the lips that kiss'd
  Whispering I knew not what of wild and sweet,
  Like that strange song I heard Apollo sing,
  While Ilion like a mist rose into towers.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 64-71

           Yet hold me not for ever in thine East:
  How can my nature longer mix with thine?
  Coldly thy rosy shadows bathe me, cold
  Are all thy lights, and cold my wrinkled feet
  Upon thy glimmering thresholds, when the steam
  Floats up from those dim fields about the homes
  Of happy men that have the power to die,
  And grassy barrows of the happier dead.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 72-76

  Release me, and restore me to the ground;
  Thou seëst all things, thou wilt see my grave:
  Thou wilt renew thy beauty morn by morn;
  I earth in earth forget these empty courts,
  And thee returning on thy silver wheels.

  

  

  

  

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“Tithonus” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Juxtaposition

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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“Tithonus” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Vapours
• Burthen
• Tills
• Wither
• Thee, Thou, Thy, Thine
• Morn
• Marr'd
• Wasted
• Maim'd
• Tremulous
• The goal of ordinance
• Meet
• Bosom
• Thro'
• Ere
• The wild team
• Yearning for thy yoke
• Beat the twilight into flakes of fire
• Lo!
• Lest
• Ay me!
• Lucid
• The dim curls kindle into sunny rings
• Ilion
• Happy
• Barrows

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Tithonus”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Tithonus” Speaker

“Tithonus” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Tithonus”

More “Tithonus” Resources

• External Resources

  • A Brief Biography — Learn more about Tennyson's life and work via the British Library.

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to a reading of the poem.

  • Tennyson at the Victorian Web — Visit the Victorian Web to find a wealth of Tennyson resources.

  • Portraits of Tennyson — See some images of Tennyson via London's National Portrait Gallery.

  • Tithonus in Art — Learn more about the Tithonus myth and see another artwork inspired by it—this one a painting by Francesco Solimena.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Alfred Lord Tennyson

  • Break, Break, Break

  • Crossing the Bar

  • Tears, Idle Tears

  • The Brook

  • The Charge of the Light Brigade

  • The Eagle

  • The Kraken

  • The Lady of Shalott

  • Ulysses