Looking at a Picture on an Anniversary
BUT don’t you know it, my dear,Don’t you know it,That this day of the year(What rainbow-rays embow it!)We met, strangers confessed,But parted—blest?
Though at this query, my dear,There in your frameUnmoved you still appear,You must be thinking the same,But keep that look demureJust to allure.
And now at length a traceI surely visionUpon that wistful faceOf old-time recognition,Smiling forth, “Yes, as you say,It is the day.”
For this one phase of youNow left on earthThis great date must endueWith pulsings of rebirth?—I see them vitalizeThose two deep eyes!
But if this face I conDoes not declareConsciousness living onStill in it, little I careTo live myself, my dear,Lone-labouring here!
Words in this poem
- embow v. t.
- To bend like a bow; to curve.
- query n.
- A question; an inquiry to be answered or solved. [L. quaere, imperative sing. of quaerere, quaesitum to seek or search for, to ask, inquire. Cf. Acquire, Conquer, Exquisite, Quest, Require.]
- unmoved a.
- Not moved; fixed; firm; unshaken; calm; apathetic.
- demure v. i.
- To look demurely.
- wistful a.
- Longing; wishful; desirous. [For wishful; perhaps influenced by wistly, which is probably corrupted from OE. wisly certainly (from Icel. viss certain, akin to E. wit). See Wish.]
- endue v. t.
- To invest. Latham. [L. induere, prob. confused with E. endow. See Indue.]
- vitalize v. t.
- To endow with life, or vitality; to give life to; to make alive; as, vitalized blood. [Cf. F. vitaliser.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Looking at a Picture on an Anniversary 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, Looking at a Picture on an Anniversary, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/looking-at-a-picture-on-an-anniversary.html, id L24228.
Form and metre
Looking at a Picture on an Anniversary is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 ABABCC dearA · itB · yearA · itB · confessedC · blestC
- 2 ABABCC dearA · frameB · appearA · sameB · demureC · allureC
- 3 A-A-BB traceA · vision · faceA · recognition · sayB · dayB
- 4 ABABCC youA · earthB · endueA · rebirthB · vitalizeC · eyesC
- 5 ABABCC conA · declareB · onA · careB · dearC · hereC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| BUT don’t you know it, my dear, | 7 | ······· |
| Don’t you know it, | 4 | ···· |
| That this day of the year | 6 | ······ |
| (What rainbow-rays embow it!) | 7 | ·/··˘/· |
| We met, strangers confessed, | 6 | ··/˘˘/ |
| But parted—blest? | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Though at this query, my dear, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| There in your frame | 4 | ···· |
| Unmoved you still appear, | 6 | ˘/··˘/ |
| You must be thinking the same, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| But keep that look demure | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Just to allure. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| And now at length a trace | 6 | ······ |
| I surely vision | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Upon that wistful face | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Of old-time recognition, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Smiling forth, “Yes, as you say, | 7 | /˘····· |
| It is the day.” | 4 | ···· |
| For this one phase of you | 6 | ······ |
| Now left on earth | 4 | ···· |
| This great date must endue | 6 | ····˘/ |
| With pulsings of rebirth?— | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| I see them vitalize | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Those two deep eyes! | 4 | ···· |
| But if this face I con | 6 | ······ |
| Does not declare | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Consciousness living on | 6 | /˘˘/˘· |
| Still in it, little I care | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| To live myself, my dear, | 6 | ···/·· |
| Lone-labouring here! | 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.