Imaginings
SHE saw herself a ladyWith fifty frocks in wear,And rolling wheels, and rooms the best,And faithful maidens’ care,And open lawns and shadyFor weathers warm or drear.
She found herself a striver,All liberal gifts debarred,With days of gloom, and movements stressed,And early visions marred,And got no man to wive herBut one whose lot was hard.
Yet in the moony night-timeShe steals to stile and leaDuring his heavy slumberous restWhen homecome wearily,And dreams of some blest bright-timeShe knows can never be.
Words in this poem
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
- striver n.
- One who strives.
- wive v. i.
- To marry, as a man; to take a wife. [AS. wifian, gewifian. See Wite.]
- moony a.
- Of or pertaining to the moon.
- stile n.
- A pin set on the face of a dial, to cast a shadow; a style. See Style. Moxon. [See Style.]
- slumberous a.
- Inviting slumber; soporiferous.
- wearily adv.
- In a weary manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Imaginings 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, Imaginings, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/imaginings.html, id L24217.
Form and metre
Imaginings is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABCBA- ladyA · wearB · bestC · careB · shadyA · drear
- 2 --CD-D striver · debarred · stressedC · marredD · her · hardD
- 3 -EC--E time · leaE · restC · wearily · time · beE
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| SHE saw herself a lady | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| With fifty frocks in wear, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And rolling wheels, and rooms the best, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And faithful maidens’ care, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And open lawns and shady | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| For weathers warm or drear. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| She found herself a striver, | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| All liberal gifts debarred, | 8 | ·/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| With days of gloom, and movements stressed, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And early visions marred, | 7 | ·/˘/˘·˘ |
| And got no man to wive her | 7 | ······· |
| But one whose lot was hard. | 6 | ······ |
| Yet in the moony night-time | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| She steals to stile and lea | 6 | ······ |
| During his heavy slumberous rest | 9 | /˘·/˘/˘˘· |
| When homecome wearily, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| And dreams of some blest bright-time | 7 | ······· |
| She knows can never be. | 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.