“In the Seventies”
IN the seventies I was bearing in my breast,Penned tight,Certain starry thoughts that threw a magic lightOn the worktimes and the soundless hours of restIn the seventies; aye, I bore them in my breastPenned tight.
In the seventies when my neighbours—even my friend—Saw me pass,Heads were shaken, and I heard the words, “Alas,For his onward years and name unless he mend!”In the seventies, when my neighbours and my friendSaw me pass.
In the seventies those who met me did not knowOf the visionThat immuned me from the chillings of mis-prisionAnd the damps that choked my goings to and froIn the seventies; yea, those nodders did not knowOf the vision.
In the seventies nought could darken or destroy it,Locked in me,Though as delicate as lamp-worm’s lucency;Neither mist nor murk could weaken or alloy itIn the seventies!—could not darken or destroy it,Locked in me.
Words in this poem
- penned a.
- Winged; having plumes.
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- soundless a.
- Not capable of being sounded or fathomed; unfathomable.
- lucency n.
- The quality of being lucent.
- murk n.
- Darkness; mirk.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
“In the Seventies” 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 Seventies”, 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-seventies.html, id L24133.
Form and metre
“In the Seventies” is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBAAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
See other poems in trochaic hexameter.
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 ABBAAB breastA · tightB · lightB · restA · breastA · tightB
- 2 ABBAAB friendA · passB · alasB · mendA · friendA · passB
- 3 ABBAAB knowA · visionB · prisionB · froA · knowA · visionB
- 4 AB-AAB itA · meB · lucency · itA · itA · meB
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 trochaic hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| IN the seventies I was bearing in my breast, | 11 | ··/˘··/˘··· |
| Penned tight, | 2 | ·· |
| Certain starry thoughts that threw a magic light | 11 | /˘/˘····/˘· |
| On the worktimes and the soundless hours of rest | 11 | ······/˘/·· |
| In the seventies; aye, I bore them in my breast | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Penned tight. | 2 | ·· |
| In the seventies when my neighbours—even my friend— | 11 | ··/˘··/˘/·· |
| Saw me pass, | 3 | ··· |
| Heads were shaken, and I heard the words, “Alas, | 11 | ··/˘·····˘/ |
| For his onward years and name unless he mend!” | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| In the seventies, when my neighbours and my friend | 11 | ··/˘··/˘··· |
| Saw me pass. | 3 | ··· |
| In the seventies those who met me did not know | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Of the vision | 4 | ··/˘ |
| That immuned me from the chillings of mis-prision | 12 | ·˘/···/˘···· |
| And the damps that choked my goings to and fro | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| In the seventies; yea, those nodders did not know | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Of the vision. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| In the seventies nought could darken or destroy it, | 12 | ··/˘··/˘·˘/· |
| Locked in me, | 3 | ··· |
| Though as delicate as lamp-worm’s lucency; | 10 | ··/˘···/˘˘ |
| Neither mist nor murk could weaken or alloy it | 12 | /˘····/˘·/·· |
| In the seventies!—could not darken or destroy it, | 12 | ··/˘··/˘·˘/· |
| Locked in me. | 3 | ··· |
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.