At Middle-Field Gate in February
THE bars are thick with drops that showAs they gather themselves from the fogLike silver buttons ranged in a row,And as evenly spaced as if measured, althoughThey fall at the feeblest jog.
They load the leafless hedge hard by,And the blades of last year’s grass,While the fallow ploughland turned up nighIn raw rolls, clammy and clogging lie—Too clogging for feet to pass.
How dry it was on a far-back dayWhen straws hung the hedge and around,When amid the sheaves in amorous playIn curtained bonnets and light arrayBloomed a bevy now underground!
Words in this poem
- clogging n.
- Anything which clogs. Dr. H. More.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- bevy n.
- A company; an assembly or collection of persons, especially of ladies. [Perhaps orig. a drinking company, fr. OF. bevée (cf. It. beva) a drink, beverage; then, perh., a company in general, esp. of ladies; and last applied by sportsm]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
At Middle-Field Gate in February 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, At Middle-Field Gate in February, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/at-middle-field-gate-in-february.html, id L24163.
Form and metre
At Middle-Field Gate in February is 15 lines in 3 stanzas of 5 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%).
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 ABAAB showA · fogB · rowA · althoughA · jogB
- 2 ABAAB byA · grassB · nighA · lieA · passB
- 3 ABAAB dayA · aroundB · playA · arrayA · undergroundB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| THE bars are thick with drops that show | 8 | ········ |
| As they gather themselves from the fog | 9 | ··/˘˘/··· |
| Like silver buttons ranged in a row, | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| And as evenly spaced as if measured, although | 11 | ··/˘···/˘·· |
| They fall at the feeblest jog. | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| They load the leafless hedge hard by, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And the blades of last year’s grass, | 7 | ······· |
| While the fallow ploughland turned up nigh | 9 | ··/······ |
| In raw rolls, clammy and clogging lie— | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| Too clogging for feet to pass. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| How dry it was on a far-back day | 9 | ········· |
| When straws hung the hedge and around, | 8 | ········ |
| When amid the sheaves in amorous play | 9 | ·˘/···/˘· |
| In curtained bonnets and light array | 9 | ·/˘/˘··˘/ |
| Bloomed a bevy now underground! | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
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.