“For Life I Had Never Cared Greatly”
FOR Life I had never cared greatly,As worth a man’s while;Peradventures unsought,Peradventures that finished in nought,Had kept me from youth and through manhood till latelyUnwon by its style.
In earliest years—why I know not—I viewed it askance;Conditions of doubt,Conditions that leaked slowly out,May haply have bent me to stand and to show notMuch zest for its dance.
With symphonies soft and sweet colourIt courted me then,Till evasions seemed wrong,Till evasions gave in to its song,And I warmed, until living aloofly loomed dullerThan life among men.
Anew I found nought to set eyes on,When, lifting its hand,It uncloaked a star,Uncloaked it from fog-damps afar,And showed its beams burning from pole to horizonAs bright as a brand.
And so, the rough highway forgetting,I pace hill and daleRegarding the sky,Regarding the vision on high,And thus re-illumed have no humour for lettingMy pilgrimage fail.
Words in this poem
- askance adv.
- Sideways; obliquely; with a side glance; with disdain, envy, or suspicion. [Cf. D. schuin, schuins, sideways, schuiven to shove, schuinte slope. Cf. Asquint.]
- haply adv.
- By hap, chance, luck, or accident; perhaps; it may be.
- zest n.
- A piece of orange or lemon peel, or the aromatic oil which may be squeezed from such peel, used to give flavor to liquor, etc. [F. zeste, probably fr. L. schistos split, cleft, divided, Gr. Schism.]
- duller n.
- One who, or that which, dulls.
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- humour n.
- Moisture, especially, the moisture or fluid of animal bodies, as the chyle, lymph, etc.; as, the humors of the eye, etc. [OE. humour, OF. humor, umor, F. humeur, L. humor, umor, moisture, fluid, fr. humere, umere, to be moist. See Humid.]
- pilgrimage n.
- The journey of a pilgrim; a long journey; especially, a journey to a shrine or other sacred place. Fig., the journey of human life. [OE. pilgrimage, pelgrinage; cf. F. pèlerinage.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
“For Life I Had Never Cared Greatly” 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, “For Life I Had Never Cared Greatly”, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/for-life-i-had-never-cared-greatly.html, id L24232.
Form and metre
“For Life I Had Never Cared Greatly” is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABCCAB. The metre is anapaestic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in anapaestic dimeter.
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 ABCCAB greatlyA · whileB · unsoughtC · noughtC · latelyA · styleB
- 2 ABCCAB notA · askanceB · doubtC · outC · notA · danceB
- 3 ABCCAB colourA · thenB · wrongC · songC · dullerA · menB
- 4 ABCCAB onA · handB · starC · afarC · horizonA · brandB
- 5 ABCCAB forgettingA · daleB · skyC · highC · lettingA · failB
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 anapaestic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| FOR Life I had never cared greatly, | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| As worth a man’s while; | 5 | ····· |
| Peradventures unsought, | 6 | ······ |
| Peradventures that finished in nought, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Had kept me from youth and through manhood till lately | 12 | ·······/··/˘ |
| Unwon by its style. | 5 | ····· |
| In earliest years—why I know not— | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I viewed it askance; | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Conditions of doubt, | 5 | ˘/˘·· |
| Conditions that leaked slowly out, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| May haply have bent me to stand and to show not | 12 | ·/˘········· |
| Much zest for its dance. | 5 | ····· |
| With symphonies soft and sweet colour | 9 | ·/˘˘···/˘ |
| It courted me then, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Till evasions seemed wrong, | 7 | ·˘/˘·˘· |
| Till evasions gave in to its song, | 9 | ·˘/˘····· |
| And I warmed, until living aloofly loomed duller | 13 | ·····/˘····/˘ |
| Than life among men. | 5 | ····· |
| Anew I found nought to set eyes on, | 9 | ˘/······· |
| When, lifting its hand, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| It uncloaked a star, | 5 | ····· |
| Uncloaked it from fog-damps afar, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| And showed its beams burning from pole to horizon | 12 | ····/˘···˘/˘ |
| As bright as a brand. | 5 | ····· |
| And so, the rough highway forgetting, | 9 | ····/·˘/˘ |
| I pace hill and dale | 5 | ····· |
| Regarding the sky, | 5 | ˘/˘·· |
| Regarding the vision on high, | 8 | ˘/˘·/˘·· |
| And thus re-illumed have no humour for letting | 12 | ·······/˘·/˘ |
| My pilgrimage fail. | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
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