Midnight on the Great Western
In the third-class seat sat the journeying boy,And the roof-lamp’s oily flamePlayed down on his listless form and face,Bewrapt past knowing to what he was going,Or whence he came.
In the band of his hat the journeying boyHad a ticket stuck; and a stringAround his neck bore the key of his box,That twinkled gleams of the lamp’s sad beamsLike a living thing.
What past can be yours, O journeying boyTowards a world unknown,Who calmly, as if incurious quiteOn all at stake, can undertakeThis plunge alone?
Knows your soul a sphere, O journeying boy,Our rude realms far above,Whence with spacious vision you mark and meteThis region of sin that you find you in,But are not of?
Words in this poem
- listless a.
- Having no desire or inclination; indifferent; heedless; spiritless. [OE. listles, lustles. See Lust.]
- incurious a.
- Not curious or inquisitive; without care for or interest in; inattentive; careless; negligent; heedless. [L. incuriosus: cf. F. incurieux. See In- not, and Curious.]
- mete v. i.
- To dream; also impersonally; as, me mette, I dreamed. [AS. m.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Midnight on the Great Western 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, Midnight on the Great Western, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/midnight-on-the-great-western.html, id L24206.
Form and metre
Midnight on the Great Western is 20 lines in 4 stanzas of 5 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 -A--A boy · flameA · face · going · cameA
- 2 -A--A boy · stringA · box · beams · thingA
- 3 -A--A boy · unknownA · quite · undertake · aloneA
- 4 -A--A boy · aboveA · mete · in · ofA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| In the third-class seat sat the journeying boy, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And the roof-lamp’s oily flame | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Played down on his listless form and face, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Bewrapt past knowing to what he was going, | 9 | ···/····/ |
| Or whence he came. | 4 | ···· |
| In the band of his hat the journeying boy | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Had a ticket stuck; and a string | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Around his neck bore the key of his box, | 10 | ·········· |
| That twinkled gleams of the lamp’s sad beams | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Like a living thing. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| What past can be yours, O journeying boy | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Towards a world unknown, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Who calmly, as if incurious quite | 10 | ·/˘··˘/˘˘· |
| On all at stake, can undertake | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| This plunge alone? | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Knows your soul a sphere, O journeying boy, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Our rude realms far above, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Whence with spacious vision you mark and mete | 10 | ··/˘/˘···· |
| This region of sin that you find you in, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But are not of? | 4 | ···· |
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.