“I Thought, My Heart”
I THOUGHT, my Heart, that you had healedOf those sore smartings of the past,And that the summers had oversealedAll mark of them at last.But closely scanning in the nightI saw them standing crimson-brightJust as she made them:Nothing could fade them;Yea, I can swearThat there they were—They still were there!
Then the Vision of her who cut them came,And looking over my shoulder said,“I am sure you deal me all the blameFor those sharp smarts and red;But meet me, dearest, to-morrow night,In the churchyard at the moon’s half-height,And so strange a kissShall be mine, I wis,That you’ll cease to knowIf the wounds you showBe there or no!”
Words in this poem
- churchyard n.
- The ground adjoining a church, in which the dead are buried; a cemetery.
- 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
“I Thought, My Heart” 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 Thought, My Heart”, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/i-thought-my-heart.html, id L24204.
Form and metre
“I Thought, My Heart” is 22 lines in 2 stanzas of 11 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 ABABCCDDE-E healedA · pastB · oversealedA · lastB · nightC · brightC · themD · themD · swearE · were · thereE
- 2 ABABCCDDEEE cameA · saidB · blameA · redB · nightC · heightC · kissD · wisD · knowE · showE · noE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I THOUGHT, my Heart, that you had healed | 8 | ········ |
| Of those sore smartings of the past, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And that the summers had oversealed | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| All mark of them at last. | 6 | ······ |
| But closely scanning in the night | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| I saw them standing crimson-bright | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Just as she made them: | 5 | ····· |
| Nothing could fade them; | 5 | /˘··· |
| Yea, I can swear | 4 | ···· |
| That there they were— | 4 | ···· |
| They still were there! | 4 | ···· |
| Then the Vision of her who cut them came, | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| And looking over my shoulder said, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| “I am sure you deal me all the blame | 9 | ········· |
| For those sharp smarts and red; | 6 | ······ |
| But meet me, dearest, to-morrow night, | 9 | ···/˘·/˘· |
| In the churchyard at the moon’s half-height, | 9 | ··/······ |
| And so strange a kiss | 5 | ····· |
| Shall be mine, I wis, | 5 | ····· |
| That you’ll cease to know | 5 | ····· |
| If the wounds you show | 5 | ····· |
| Be there or no!” | 4 | ···· |
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.