He Revisits His First School
I SHOULD not have shown in the flesh,I ought to have gone as a ghost;It was awkward, unseemly almost,Standing solidly there as when fresh,Pink, tiny, crisp-curled,My pinions yet furledFrom the winds of the world.
After waiting so many a yearTo wait longer, and go as a spriteFrom the tomb at the mid of some nightWas the right, radiant way to appear;Not as one wanzing weakFrom life’s roar and reek,His rest still to seek:
Yea, beglimpsed through the quaint quarried glassOf green moonlight, by me greener made,When they’d cry, perhaps, “There sits his shadeIn his olden haunt—just as he wasWhen in Walkingame heConned the grand Rule-of-ThreeWith the bent of a bee.”
But to show in the afternoon sun,With an aspect of hollow-eyed care,When none wished to see me come there,Was a garish thing, better undone.Yes; wrong was the way;But yet, let me say,I may right it—some day.
Words in this poem
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- solidly adv.
- In a solid manner; densely; compactly; firmly; truly.
- sprite n.
- A spirit; a soul; a shade; also, an apparition. See Spright. [OE. sprit, F. esprit, fr. L. spiritus. See Spirit, and cf. Sprightly.]
- reek n.
- A rick. B. Jonson.
- quaint a.
- Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. [OE. queint, queynte, coint, prudent, wise, cunning, pretty, odd, OF. cointe cultivated, amiable, agreeable, neat, fr. L. cognitus known, p. p. of cognoscere to ]
- quarried a.
- Provided with prey.
- olden a.
- Old; ancient; as, the olden time.
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- garish a.
- Showy; dazzling; ostentatious; attracting or exciting attention. [Cf. OE. gauren to stare; of uncertain origin. Cf. gairish.]
- undone a.
- Not done or performed; neglected. [Pref. un- not + done.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
He Revisits His First School 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 Revisits His First School, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/he-revisits-his-first-school.html, id L24203.
Form and metre
He Revisits His First School is 28 lines in 4 stanzas of 7 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBACCC, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in anapaestic 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 ABBACCC fleshA · ghostB · almostB · freshA · curledC · furledC · worldC
- 2 ABBACCC yearA · spriteB · nightB · appearA · weakC · reekC · seekC
- 3 -AA-BBB glass · madeA · shadeA · was · heB · threeB · beeB
- 4 ABBACCC sunA · careB · thereB · undoneA · wayC · sayC · dayC
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I SHOULD not have shown in the flesh, | 8 | ········ |
| I ought to have gone as a ghost; | 8 | ········ |
| It was awkward, unseemly almost, | 9 | ··/˘˘/˘/· |
| Standing solidly there as when fresh, | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Pink, tiny, crisp-curled, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| My pinions yet furled | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| From the winds of the world. | 6 | ······ |
| After waiting so many a year | 8 | ··/˘·/·· |
| To wait longer, and go as a sprite | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| From the tomb at the mid of some night | 9 | ········· |
| Was the right, radiant way to appear; | 9 | ···/˘··˘/ |
| Not as one wanzing weak | 6 | ······ |
| From life’s roar and reek, | 5 | ····· |
| His rest still to seek: | 5 | ····· |
| Yea, beglimpsed through the quaint quarried glass | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Of green moonlight, by me greener made, | 9 | ··/···/˘· |
| When they’d cry, perhaps, “There sits his shade | 9 | ···˘/···· |
| In his olden haunt—just as he was | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| When in Walkingame he | 6 | ······ |
| Conned the grand Rule-of-Three | 7 | ·˘····· |
| With the bent of a bee.” | 6 | ······ |
| But to show in the afternoon sun, | 9 | ······˘/· |
| With an aspect of hollow-eyed care, | 9 | ··/··/˘·· |
| When none wished to see me come there, | 8 | ········ |
| Was a garish thing, better undone. | 9 | ··/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Yes; wrong was the way; | 5 | ····· |
| But yet, let me say, | 5 | ····· |
| I may right it—some day. | 6 | ······ |
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