He Prefers Her Earthly
THIS after-sunset is a sight for seeing,Cliff-heads of craggy cloud surrounding it.—And dwell you in that glory-show?You may; for there are strange strange things in being,Stranger than I know.
Yet if that chasm of splendour claim your presenceWhich glows between the ash cloud and the dun,How changed must be your mortal mould!Changed to a firmament-riding earthless essenceFrom what you were of old:
All too unlike the fond and fragile creatureThen known to me . . . Well, shall I say it plain?I would not have you thus and there,But still would grieve on, missing you, still featureYou as the one you were.
Words in this poem
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Prefers Her Earthly 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, He Prefers Her Earthly, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/he-prefers-her-earthly.html, id L24184.
Form and metre
He Prefers Her Earthly is 15 lines in 3 stanzas of 5 lines each. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic trimeter.
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 A-BAB seeingA · it · showB · beingA · knowB
- 2 --A-A presence · dun · mouldA · essence · oldA
- 3 A--A- creatureA · plain · there · featureA · were
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 |
|---|---|---|
| THIS after-sunset is a sight for seeing, | 10 | ···/·····/ |
| Cliff-heads of craggy cloud surrounding it. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| —And dwell you in that glory-show? | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| You may; for there are strange strange things in being, | 10 | ·········/ |
| Stranger than I know. | 5 | /˘··· |
| Yet if that chasm of splendour claim your presence | 12 | ···/˘·/˘··/˘ |
| Which glows between the ash cloud and the dun, | 10 | ·········· |
| How changed must be your mortal mould! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Changed to a firmament-riding earthless essence | 12 | ···/˘˘/˘··/˘ |
| From what you were of old: | 6 | ······ |
| All too unlike the fond and fragile creature | 11 | ··˘/···/˘/˘ |
| Then known to me . . . Well, shall I say it plain? | 10 | ·········· |
| I would not have you thus and there, | 8 | ········ |
| But still would grieve on, missing you, still feature | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| You as the one you were. | 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.