A Merrymaking in Question
“I WILL get a new string for my fiddle,And call to the neighbours to come,And partners shall dance down the middleUntil the old pewter-wares hum:And we’ll sip the mead, cyder, and rum!”
From the night came the oddest of answers:A hollow wind, like a bassoon,And headstones all ranged up as dancers,And cypresses droning a croon,And gurgoyles that mouthed to the tune.
(Fickle Lover’s Song)
I SAID and sang her excellence:They called it laud undue.(Have your way, my heart, O!)Yet what was homage far aboveThe plain deserts of my olden LoveProved verity of my new.
“She moves a sylph in picture-land,Where nothing frosts the air:”(Have your way, my heart, O!)“To all winged pipers overheadShe is known by shape and song,” I said,Conscious of licence there.
I sang of her in a dim old hallDream-built too fancifully,(Have your way, my heart, O!)But lo, the ripe months chanced to leadMy feet to such a hall indeed,Where stood the very She.
Strange, startling, was it then to learnI had glanced down unborn time,(Have your way, my heart, O!)And prophesied, whereby I knewThat which the years had planned to doIn warranty of my rhyme.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- croon v. i.
- To make a continuous hollow moan, as cattle do when in pain.
- olden a.
- Old; ancient; as, the olden time.
- verity n.
- The quality or state of being true, or real; consonance of a statement, proposition, or other thing, with fact; truth; reality. [F. vérité, L. veritas, fr. verus true. See Very.]
- sylph n.
- An imaginary being inhabiting the air; a fairy.
- unborn a.
- Not born; no yet brought into life; being still to appear; future.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Merrymaking in Question is in the public domain. This text is taken from Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #3255; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Hardy, A Merrymaking in Question, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/a-merrymaking-in-question.html, id L24142.
Form and metre
A Merrymaking in Question is 35 lines in 7 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABB, in 2 of the 7 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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 ABABB fiddleA · comeB · middleA · humB · rumB
- 2 ABABB answersA · bassoonB · dancersA · croonB · tuneB
- 4 -A-BBA excellence · undueA · o · aboveB · loveB · newA
- 5 -A-BBA land · airA · o · overheadB · saidB · thereA
- 6 ---AA- hall · fancifully · o · leadA · indeedA · she
- 7 -A-BBA learn · timeA · o · knewB · doB · rhymeA
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 WILL get a new string for my fiddle, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| And call to the neighbours to come, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| And partners shall dance down the middle | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Until the old pewter-wares hum: | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| And we’ll sip the mead, cyder, and rum!” | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| From the night came the oddest of answers: | 10 | ·····/˘·/˘ |
| A hollow wind, like a bassoon, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| And headstones all ranged up as dancers, | 9 | ·/·····/˘ |
| And cypresses droning a croon, | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘·· |
| And gurgoyles that mouthed to the tune. | 8 | ········ |
| (Fickle Lover’s Song) | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| I SAID and sang her excellence: | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| They called it laud undue. | 7 | ··˘··˘/ |
| (Have your way, my heart, O!) | 6 | ······ |
| Yet what was homage far above | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The plain deserts of my olden Love | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| Proved verity of my new. | 8 | ·˘/˘˘··· |
| “She moves a sylph in picture-land, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Where nothing frosts the air:” | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| (Have your way, my heart, O!) | 6 | ······ |
| “To all winged pipers overhead | 8 | ···/˘/˘/ |
| She is known by shape and song,” I said, | 9 | ········· |
| Conscious of licence there. | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| I sang of her in a dim old hall | 9 | ········· |
| Dream-built too fancifully, | 7 | ······· |
| (Have your way, my heart, O!) | 6 | ······ |
| But lo, the ripe months chanced to lead | 8 | ········ |
| My feet to such a hall indeed, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Where stood the very She. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Strange, startling, was it then to learn | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I had glanced down unborn time, | 8 | ···˘·//· |
| (Have your way, my heart, O!) | 6 | ······ |
| And prophesied, whereby I knew | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That which the years had planned to do | 8 | ········ |
| In warranty of my rhyme. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
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.