“I Looked Up from My Writing”
I LOOKED up from my writing,And gave a start to see,As if rapt in my inditing,The moon’s full gaze on me.
Her meditative misty headWas spectral in its air,And I involuntarily said,“What are you doing there?”
“Oh, I’ve been scanning pond and holeAnd waterway hereaboutFor the body of one with a sunken soulWho has put his life-light out.
“Did you hear his frenzied tattle?It was sorrow for his sonWho is slain in brutish battle,Though he has injured none.
“And now I am curious to lookInto the blinkered mindOf one who wants to write a bookIn a world of such a kind.”
Her temper overwrought me,And I edged to shun her view,For I felt assured she thought meOne who should drown him too.
Words in this poem
- rapt n.
- An ecstasy; a trance. Bp. Morton. [From F. rapt abduction, rape, L. raptus, fr. rapere to seize and carry off, to transport; or fr. E. rapt, a. See Rapt, a., and Rapid.]
- involuntarily adv.
- In an involuntary manner; not voluntarily; not intentionally or willingly. [From Involuntary.]
- tattle v. i.
- To prate; to talk idly; to use many words with little meaning; to chat. [Akin to OE. tateren, LG. tateln, D. tateren to stammer, and perhaps to E. titter.]
- brutish a.
- Pertaining to, or resembling, a brute or brutes; of a cruel, gross, and stupid nature; coarse; unfeeling; unintelligent.
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
- overwrought p. p.
- Wrought upon excessively; overworked; overexcited.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
“I Looked Up from My Writing” 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, “I Looked Up from My Writing”, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/i-looked-up-from-my-writing.html, id L24248.
Form and metre
“I Looked Up from My Writing” is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 ABAB writingA · seeB · inditingA · meB
- 2 ABAB headA · airB · saidA · thereB
- 3 ABAB holeA · hereaboutB · soulA · outB
- 4 ABAB tattleA · sonB · battleA · noneB
- 5 ABAB lookA · mindB · bookA · kindB
- 6 ABAB meA · viewB · meA · tooB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I LOOKED up from my writing, | 8 | ··˘···/˘ |
| And gave a start to see, | 6 | ······ |
| As if rapt in my inditing, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| The moon’s full gaze on me. | 6 | ······ |
| Her meditative misty head | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Was spectral in its air, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And I involuntarily said, | 9 | ···˘/˘·˘· |
| “What are you doing there?” | 6 | ···/˘· |
| “Oh, I’ve been scanning pond and hole | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And waterway hereabout | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| For the body of one with a sunken soul | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
| Who has put his life-light out. | 7 | ······· |
| “Did you hear his frenzied tattle? | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| It was sorrow for his son | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Who is slain in brutish battle, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Though he has injured none. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| “And now I am curious to look | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Into the blinkered mind | 7 | ·····˘· |
| Of one who wants to write a book | 8 | ········ |
| In a world of such a kind.” | 7 | ······· |
| Her temper overwrought me, | 7 | ·/˘·˘/· |
| And I edged to shun her view, | 8 | ···˘···· |
| For I felt assured she thought me | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| One who should drown him too. | 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.