Jubilate
“THE very last time I ever was here,” he said,“I saw much less of the quick than I saw of the dead.”—He was a man I had met with somewhere before,But how or when I now could recall no more.
“The hazy mazy moonlight at one in the morningSpread out as a sea across the frozen snow,Glazed to live sparkles like the great breastplate adorningThe priest of the Temple, with Urim and Thummim aglow.
“The yew-tree arms, glued hard to the stiff stark air,Hung still in the village sky as theatre-scenesWhen I came by the churchyard wall, and halted thereAt a shut-in sound of fiddles and tambourines.
“And as I stood hearkening, dulcimers, haut-boys, and shawms,And violoncellos, and a three-stringed double-bass,Joined in, and were intermixed with a singing of psalms;And I looked over at the dead men’s dwelling-place.
“Through the shine of the slippery snow I now could see,As it were through a crystal roof, a great companyOf the dead minueting in stately step undergroundTo the tune of the instruments I had before heard sound.
“It was ‘Eden New,’ and dancing they sang in a chore,‘We are out of it all!—yea, in Little-Ease cramped no more!’And their shrouded figures pacing with joy I could seeAs you see the stage from the gallery. And they had no heed of me.
“And I lifted my head quite dazed from the churchyard wallAnd I doubted not that it warned I should soon have my call.But—” . . . Then in the ashes he emptied the dregs of his cup,And onward he went, and the darkness swallowed him up.
Words in this poem
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
- hazy a.
- Thick with haze; somewhat obscured with haze; not clear or transparent. [From Haze, n.]
- urim n.
- A part or decoration of the breastplate of the high priest among the ancient Jews, by which Jehovah revealed his will on certain occasions. Its nature has been the subject of conflicting conjectures. [Heb. , pl. of , fire light.]
- thummim n.
- A mysterious part or decoration of the breastplate of the Jewish high priest. See the note under Urim. [Heb., pl. of thom perfection.]
- aglow adv.
- In a glow; glowing; as, cheeks aglow; the landscape all aglow. [Pref. a- + glow.]
- stark adv.
- Wholly; entirely; absolutely; quite; as, stark mind.
- churchyard n.
- The ground adjoining a church, in which the dead are buried; a cemetery.
- eden n.
- The garden where Adam and Eve first dwelt; hence, a delightful region or residence. [Heb. eden delight, pleasure; also, a place of pleasure, Eden.]
- chore n.
- A choir or chorus. B. Jonson.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Jubilate 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, Jubilate, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/jubilate.html, id L24202.
Form and metre
Jubilate is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic trimeter.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, 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 AABB saidA · deadA · beforeB · moreB
- 2 ABAB morningA · snowB · adorningA · aglowB
- 3 ABAB airA · scenesB · thereA · tambourinesB
- 4 -A-A shawms · bassA · psalms · placeA
- 5 --AA see · company · undergroundA · soundA
- 6 AABB choreA · moreA · seeB · meB
- 7 AABB wallA · callA · cupB · upB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “THE very last time I ever was here,” he said, | 11 | ·/˘···/···· |
| “I saw much less of the quick than I saw of the dead.” | 13 | ············· |
| —He was a man I had met with somewhere before, | 12 | ········/··· |
| But how or when I now could recall no more. | 11 | ·······/··· |
| “The hazy mazy moonlight at one in the morning | 13 | ·/˘/˘/·····/˘ |
| Spread out as a sea across the frozen snow, | 11 | ·····˘/·/˘· |
| Glazed to live sparkles like the great breastplate adorning | 13 | ···/˘···/·˘/˘ |
| The priest of the Temple, with Urim and Thummim aglow. | 14 | ····/˘·/˘·/˘˘/ |
| “The yew-tree arms, glued hard to the stiff stark air, | 11 | ··········· |
| Hung still in the village sky as theatre-scenes | 11 | ····/˘··/˘· |
| When I came by the churchyard wall, and halted there | 12 | ·····/···/˘· |
| At a shut-in sound of fiddles and tambourines. | 12 | ······/˘··˘/ |
| “And as I stood hearkening, dulcimers, haut-boys, and shawms, | 13 | ·······/˘···· |
| And violoncellos, and a three-stringed double-bass, | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| Joined in, and were intermixed with a singing of psalms; | 13 | ·····˘/··/˘·· |
| And I looked over at the dead men’s dwelling-place. | 11 | ········/˘· |
| “Through the shine of the slippery snow I now could see, | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| As it were through a crystal roof, a great company | 12 | ·····/˘···/˘ |
| Of the dead minueting in stately step underground | 14 | ····˘/˘·/˘·/˘· |
| To the tune of the instruments I had before heard sound. | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| “It was ‘Eden New,’ and dancing they sang in a chore, | 13 | ··/˘··/˘····· |
| ‘We are out of it all!—yea, in Little-Ease cramped no more!’ | 14 | ········/˘···· |
| And their shrouded figures pacing with joy I could see | 13 | ··/˘/˘/˘····· |
| As you see the stage from the gallery. And they had no heed of me. | 16 | ·······/˘······· |
| “And I lifted my head quite dazed from the churchyard wall | 13 | ··/˘······/·· |
| And I doubted not that it warned I should soon have my call. | 14 | ··/˘·········· |
| But—” . . . Then in the ashes he emptied the dregs of his cup, | 14 | ····/˘·/˘····· |
| And onward he went, and the darkness swallowed him up. | 13 | ·/˘····/˘/˘·· |
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.