During Wind and Rain
THEY sing their dearest songs—He, she, all of them—yea,Treble and tenor and bass,And one to play;With the candles mooning each face . . .Ah, no; the years O!How the sick leaves reel down in throngs!
They clear the creeping moss—Elders and juniors—aye,Making the pathways neatAnd the garden gay;And they build a shady seat . . .Ah, no; the years, the years;See, the white storm-birds wing across!
They are blithely breakfasting all—Men and maidens—yea,Under the summer tree,With a glimpse of the bay,While pet fowl come to the knee . . .Ah, no; the years O!And the rotten rose is ript from the wall.
They change to a high new house,He, she, all of them—aye,Clocks and carpets and chairsOn the lawn all day,And brightest things that are theirs . . .Ah, no; the years, the years;Down their carved names the rain-drop ploughs.
Words in this poem
- blithely adv.
- In a blithe manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
During Wind and Rain 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, During Wind and Rain, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/during-wind-and-rain.html, id L24183.
Form and metre
During Wind and Rain is 28 lines in 4 stanzas of 7 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
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 ABCBC-A songsA · yeaB · bassC · playB · faceC · o · throngsA
- 2 A-B-B-A mossA · aye · neatB · gay · seatB · years · acrossA
- 3 ABCBC-A allA · yeaB · treeC · bayB · kneeC · o · wallA
- 4 --A-A-- house · aye · chairsA · day · theirsA · years · ploughs
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 |
|---|---|---|
| THEY sing their dearest songs— | 6 | ···/˘· |
| He, she, all of them—yea, | 6 | ······ |
| Treble and tenor and bass, | 7 | /˘·/˘·· |
| And one to play; | 4 | ···· |
| With the candles mooning each face . . . | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| Ah, no; the years O! | 5 | ····· |
| How the sick leaves reel down in throngs! | 8 | ········ |
| They clear the creeping moss— | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Elders and juniors—aye, | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| Making the pathways neat | 6 | /˘·/·· |
| And the garden gay; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And they build a shady seat . . . | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Ah, no; the years, the years; | 6 | ······ |
| See, the white storm-birds wing across! | 8 | ······˘/ |
| They are blithely breakfasting all— | 8 | ··/˘/˘˘· |
| Men and maidens—yea, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Under the summer tree, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| With a glimpse of the bay, | 6 | ······ |
| While pet fowl come to the knee . . . | 7 | ······· |
| Ah, no; the years O! | 5 | ····· |
| And the rotten rose is ript from the wall. | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| They change to a high new house, | 7 | ······· |
| He, she, all of them—aye, | 6 | ······ |
| Clocks and carpets and chairs | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| On the lawn all day, | 5 | ····· |
| And brightest things that are theirs . . . | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Ah, no; the years, the years; | 6 | ······ |
| Down their carved names the rain-drop ploughs. | 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.