A New Year’s Eve in War Time
PHANTASMAL fears,And the flap of the flame,And the throb of the clock,And a loosened slate,And the blind night’s drone,Which tiredly the spectral pines intone!
And the blood in my earsStrumming always the same,And the gable-cockWith its fitful grate,And myself, alone.
The twelfth hour nearsHand-hid, as in shame;I undo the lock,And listen, and waitFor the Young Unknown.
In the dark there careers—As if Death astride cameTo numb all with his knock—A horse at mad rateOver rut and stone.
No figure appears,No call of my name,No sound but “Tic-toc”Without check. Past the gateIt clatters—is gone.
What rider it bearsThere is none to proclaim;And the Old Year has struck,And, scarce animate,The New makes moan.
Maybe that “More Tears!—More Famine and Flame—More Severance and Shock!”Is the order from FateThat the Rider speeds onTo pale Europe; and tiredly the pines intone.
Words in this poem
- phantasmal a.
- Pertaining to, of the nature of, or resembling, a phantasm; spectral; illusive.
- throb v. i.
- To beat, or pulsate, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate; -- said of the heart, pulse, etc. [OE. ; of uncertain origin; cf. Russ. trepete a trembling, and E. trepidation.]
- intone v. t.
- To utter with a musical or prolonged note or tone; to chant; as, to intone the church service. [LL. intonare, intonatum; pref. in- in + L. tonus tone. See Tone and cf. Entune, Intonate.]
- fitful a.
- Full of fits; irregularly variable; impulsive and unstable. [From 7th Fit.]
- astride adv.
- With one leg on each side, as a man when on horseback; with the legs stretched wide apart; astraddle. [Pref. a- + stride.]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- maybe adv.
- Perhaps; possibly; peradventure. [For it may be.]
- famine n.
- General scarcity of food; dearth; a want of provisions; destitution. [F. famine, fr. L. fames hunger; cf. Gr. hani loss, lack, ha to leave.]
- severance n.
- The act of severing, or the state of being severed; partition; separation. Milman.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A New Year’s Eve in War Time 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 New Year’s Eve in War Time, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/a-new-year-s-eve-in-war-time.html, id L24246.
Form and metre
A New Year’s Eve in War Time is 37 lines in 7 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABCDE, in 3 of the 7 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABCDEE fearsA · flameB · clockC · slateD · droneE · intoneE
- 2 ABCDE earsA · sameB · cockC · grateD · aloneE
- 3 ABCDE nearsA · shameB · lockC · waitD · unknownE
- 4 ABCDE careersA · cameB · knockC · rateD · stoneE
- 5 AB-D- appearsA · nameB · toc · gateD · gone
- 6 FB--G bearsF · proclaimB · struck · animate · moanG
- 7 FB---G tearsF · flameB · shock · fate · on · intoneG
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| PHANTASMAL fears, | 4 | ˘/˘· |
| And the flap of the flame, | 6 | ······ |
| And the throb of the clock, | 6 | ······ |
| And a loosened slate, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And the blind night’s drone, | 5 | ····· |
| Which tiredly the spectral pines intone! | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And the blood in my ears | 6 | ······ |
| Strumming always the same, | 6 | /˘/··· |
| And the gable-cock | 5 | ··/˘· |
| With its fitful grate, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And myself, alone. | 5 | ··/˘/ |
| The twelfth hour nears | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Hand-hid, as in shame; | 5 | ····· |
| I undo the lock, | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| And listen, and wait | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| For the Young Unknown. | 5 | ···˘/ |
| In the dark there careers— | 6 | ····˘/ |
| As if Death astride came | 6 | ···˘/· |
| To numb all with his knock— | 6 | ······ |
| A horse at mad rate | 5 | ····· |
| Over rut and stone. | 5 | ····· |
| No figure appears, | 5 | ·/˘˘/ |
| No call of my name, | 5 | ····· |
| No sound but “Tic-toc” | 5 | ····· |
| Without check. Past the gate | 6 | ······ |
| It clatters—is gone. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| What rider it bears | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| There is none to proclaim; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And the Old Year has struck, | 6 | ······ |
| And, scarce animate, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| The New makes moan. | 4 | ···· |
| Maybe that “More Tears!— | 5 | /˘··· |
| More Famine and Flame— | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| More Severance and Shock!” | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Is the order from Fate | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| That the Rider speeds on | 5 | ··/·· |
| To pale Europe; and tiredly the pines intone. | 12 | ··/˘······˘/ |
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