To Mrs. Thomas Hardy
I do not use to listen wellAt sermon time,I ’ld rather hear the plainest rhymeThan tales the parsons tell;
The homespun of experienceThey will not wear,But walk a transcendental airIn dusty rags of sense.
But humbly in your little churchAlone I watch;Old rector, lift again the latch,Here is a heart to search.
Come, with a simple word and wiseQuicken my brain,And while upon the painted paneThe painted butterflies
Beat in the early April beams,You shall instructMy spirit in the knowledge pluckedFrom your still Dorset dreams.
Your word shall strive with no obscureDebated text,Your vision being unperplexed,Your loving purpose pure.
I know you’ll speak of April flowers,Or lambs in pen,Or happy-hearted maids and menWeaving their April hours.
Or rising to your thought will come,For lessoning,Those lovers of an older spring,That now in tombs are dumb.
And brooding in your theme shall be,Half said, half heard,The presage of a poet’s wordTo mock mortality.
The years are on your grave the while,And yet, almost,I think to see your surpliced ghostStand hesitant in the aisle,
Find me sole congregation there,Assess my mood,Know mine a kindred solitude,And climb the pulpit-stair.
Words in this poem
- sermon n.
- A discourse or address; a talk; a writing; as, the sermens of Chaucer. [OE. sermoun, sermun, F. sermon, fr. L. sermo, - onis, a speaking, discourse, probably fr. serer, sertum, to join, connect; hence, a connected speech. See Series]
- homespun a.
- Spun or wrought at home; of domestic manufacture; coarse; plain.
- transcendental n.
- A transcendentalist.
- humbly adv.
- With humility; lowly.
- latch v. t.
- To smear; to anoint. [Cf. F. lécher to lick (of German origin). Cf. Lick.]
- pane n.
- The narrow edge of a hammer head. See Peen. [F. panne.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- instruct a.
- Arranged; furnished; provided. [L. instructus, p. p. of instruere to furnish, provide, construct, instruct; pref. in- in, struere. See Structure.]
- mortality n.
- The condition or quality of being mortal; subjection to death or to the necessity of dying. [L. mortalitas: cf. F. mortalité.]
- surpliced a.
- Wearing a surplice.
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- hesitant a.
- Not prompt in deciding or acting; hesitating. [L. haesitans, p. pr. of haesitare: cf. F. hésitant. See Hesitate.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Mrs. Thomas Hardy is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, 1908-1919, Project Gutenberg ebook #51575; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Drinkwater, To Mrs. Thomas Hardy, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/to-mrs-thomas-hardy.html, id L23111.
Form and metre
To Mrs. Thomas Hardy is 44 lines in 11 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 9 of its 11 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABBA wellA · timeB · rhymeB · tellA
- 2 ABBA experienceA · wearB · airB · senseA
- 3 A--A churchA · watch · latch · searchA
- 4 ABBA wiseA · brainB · paneB · butterfliesA
- 5 ABBA beamsA · instructB · pluckedB · dreamsA
- 6 ABBA obscureA · textB · unperplexedB · pureA
- 7 ABBA flowersA · penB · menB · hoursA
- 8 ABBA comeA · lessoningB · springB · dumbA
- 9 -AA- be · heardA · wordA · mortality
- 10 ABBA whileA · almostB · ghostB · aisleA
- 11 ABBA thereA · moodB · solitudeB · stairA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I do not use to listen well | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| At sermon time, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| I ’ld rather hear the plainest rhyme | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| Than tales the parsons tell; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The homespun of experience | 8 | ·/··˘/˘˘ |
| They will not wear, | 4 | ···· |
| But walk a transcendental air | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| In dusty rags of sense. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But humbly in your little church | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Alone I watch; | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Old rector, lift again the latch, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Here is a heart to search. | 6 | ······ |
| Come, with a simple word and wise | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Quicken my brain, | 4 | /˘·· |
| And while upon the painted pane | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The painted butterflies | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Beat in the early April beams, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| You shall instruct | 4 | ··˘/ |
| My spirit in the knowledge plucked | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| From your still Dorset dreams. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Your word shall strive with no obscure | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Debated text, | 4 | ˘/˘· |
| Your vision being unperplexed, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Your loving purpose pure. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| I know you’ll speak of April flowers, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Or lambs in pen, | 4 | ···· |
| Or happy-hearted maids and men | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Weaving their April hours. | 7 | /˘·/˘/˘ |
| Or rising to your thought will come, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| For lessoning, | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| Those lovers of an older spring, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That now in tombs are dumb. | 6 | ······ |
| And brooding in your theme shall be, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Half said, half heard, | 4 | ···· |
| The presage of a poet’s word | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| To mock mortality. | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| The years are on your grave the while, | 8 | ········ |
| And yet, almost, | 4 | ··/· |
| I think to see your surpliced ghost | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Stand hesitant in the aisle, | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Find me sole congregation there, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Assess my mood, | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Know mine a kindred solitude, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And climb the pulpit-stair. | 6 | ···/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.