In the Garden (M. H.)
WE waited for the sunTo break its cloudy prison(For day was not yet done,And night still unbegun)Leaning by the dial.
After many a trial—We all silent there—It burst as new-arisen,Throwing a shade to whereTime travelled at that minute.
Little saw we in it,But this much I know,Of lookers on that shade,Her towards whom it madeSoonest had to go.
Words in this poem
- unbegun a.
- Not yet begun; also, existing without a beginning.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In the Garden (M. H.) 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, In the Garden (M. H.), in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/in-the-garden-m-h.html, id L24224.
Form and metre
In the Garden (M. H.) is 15 lines in 3 stanzas of 5 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 ABAAC sunA · prisonB · doneA · unbegunA · dialC
- 2 CDBD- trialC · thereD · arisenB · whereD · minute
- 3 -EFFE it · knowE · shadeF · madeF · goE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| WE waited for the sun | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| To break its cloudy prison | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| (For day was not yet done, | 6 | ······ |
| And night still unbegun) | 6 | ······ |
| Leaning by the dial. | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| After many a trial— | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| We all silent there— | 5 | ··/˘· |
| It burst as new-arisen, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Throwing a shade to where | 6 | /˘···· |
| Time travelled at that minute. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Little saw we in it, | 6 | /˘···· |
| But this much I know, | 5 | ····· |
| Of lookers on that shade, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Her towards whom it made | 6 | ······ |
| Soonest had to go. | 5 | /˘··· |
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.