Conjecture
IF there were in my kalendarNo Emma, Florence, Mary,What would be my existence now—A hermit’s?—wanderer’s weary?—How should I live, and howNear would be death, or far?
Could it have been that other eyesMight have uplit my highway?That fond, sad, retrospective sightWould catch from this dim bywayPrized figures different quiteFrom those that now arise?
With how strange aspect would there creepThe dawn, the night, the daytime,If memory were not what it isIn song-time, toil, or pray-time.—O were it else than this,I’d pass to pulseless sleep!
Words in this poem
- byway n.
- A secluded, private, or obscure way; a path or road aside from the main one.
- pulseless a.
- Having no pulsation; lifeless.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Conjecture 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, Conjecture, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/conjecture.html, id L24161.
Form and metre
Conjecture is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 --A-A- kalendar · mary · nowA · weary · howA · far
- 2 ABCBCA eyesA · highwayB · sightC · bywayB · quiteC · ariseA
- 3 AB-B-A creepA · daytimeB · is · timeB · this · sleepA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| IF there were in my kalendar | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| No Emma, Florence, Mary, | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| What would be my existence now— | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| A hermit’s?—wanderer’s weary?— | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| How should I live, and how | 6 | ······ |
| Near would be death, or far? | 6 | ······ |
| Could it have been that other eyes | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Might have uplit my highway? | 7 | ·····/· |
| That fond, sad, retrospective sight | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Would catch from this dim byway | 7 | ·····/· |
| Prized figures different quite | 7 | ·/˘/˘˘· |
| From those that now arise? | 6 | ····˘/ |
| With how strange aspect would there creep | 8 | ···/···· |
| The dawn, the night, the daytime, | 7 | ·····/· |
| If memory were not what it is | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In song-time, toil, or pray-time.— | 7 | ······· |
| O were it else than this, | 6 | ······ |
| I’d pass to pulseless sleep! | 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.