Royal Sponsors
“THE king and the queen will stand to the child;’Twill be handed down in song;And it’s no more than their deserving,With my lord so faithful at Court so long,And so staunch and strong.
“O never before was known such a thing!’Twill be a grand time for all;And the beef will be a whole-roast bullock,And the servants will have a feast in the hall,And the ladies a ball.
“While from Jordan’s stream by a traveller,In a flagon of silver wrought,And by caravan, stage-coach, wain, and waggonA precious trickle has been brought,Clear as when caught.”
The morning came. To the park of the peerThe royal couple bore;And the font was filled with the Jordan water,And the household awaited their guests beforeThe carpeted door.
But when they went to the silk-lined cotThe child was found to have died.“What’s now to be done? We can disappoint notThe king and queen!” the family criedWith eyes spread wide.
“Even now they approach the chestnut-drive!The service must be read.”“Well, since we can’t christen the child alive,By God we shall have to christen him dead!”The marquis said.
Thus, breath-forsaken, a corpse was takenTo the private chapel—yea—And the king knew not, nor the queen, God wot,That they answered for one returned to clayAt the font that day.
Words in this poem
- twill v. i.
- To weave, as cloth, so as to produce the appearance of diagonal lines or ribs on the surface. [Scotch tweel; probably from LG. twillen to make double, from twi- two; akin to AS. twi-, E. twi- in twilight. See Twice, and cf. Tweed, Tweel.]
- bullock n.
- A young bull, or any male of the ox kind. [AS. bulluc a young bull. See Bull.]
- jordan n.
- A pot or vessel with a large neck, formerly used by physicians and alchemists. Halliwell. [Prob. fr. the river Jordan, and shortened fr. Jordan bottle a bottle of water from the Jordan, brought back by pilgrims.]
- flagon n.
- A vessel with a narrow mouth, used for holding and conveying liquors. It is generally larger than a bottle, and of leather or stoneware rather than of glass. [F. flacon, for flascon, fr. OF. flasche, from LL. flasco. See Flask.]
- wain n.
- A four-wheeled vehicle for the transportation of goods, produce, etc.; a wagon. [OE. wain, AS. wægn; akin to D. & G. wagen, OHG. wagan, Icel. & Sw. vagn, Dan. vogn, and E. way. Way, Weigh, and cf. Wagon.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- christen v. t.
- To baptize and give a Christian name to. [AS. cristnian to make a Christian, fr. cristen a Christian.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- corpse n.
- A human body in general, whether living or dead; -- sometimes contemptuosly. [OF. cors (sometimes written corps), F. corps, L. corpus; akin to AS. hrif womb. See Midriff, and cf. Corse, Corselet, Corps, Cuerpo.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Royal Sponsors 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, Royal Sponsors, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/royal-sponsors.html, id L24169.
Form and metre
Royal Sponsors is 35 lines in 7 stanzas of 5 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABB, in 2 of the 7 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. 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 -AAAA child · songA · deservingA · longA · strongA
- 2 -A-AA thing · allA · bullock · hallA · ballA
- 3 -A-AA traveller · wroughtA · waggon · broughtA · caughtA
- 4 -A-AA peer · boreA · water · beforeA · doorA
- 5 ABABB cotA · diedB · notA · criedB · wideB
- 6 ABABB driveA · readB · aliveA · deadB · saidB
- 7 -A-AA taken · yeaA · wot · clayA · dayA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “THE king and the queen will stand to the child; | 10 | ·········· |
| ’Twill be handed down in song; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And it’s no more than their deserving, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| With my lord so faithful at Court so long, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| And so staunch and strong. | 5 | ····· |
| “O never before was known such a thing! | 9 | ·/······· |
| ’Twill be a grand time for all; | 7 | ······· |
| And the beef will be a whole-roast bullock, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| And the servants will have a feast in the hall, | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| And the ladies a ball. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| “While from Jordan’s stream by a traveller, | 9 | ··/˘···/˘ |
| In a flagon of silver wrought, | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| And by caravan, stage-coach, wain, and waggon | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| A precious trickle has been brought, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Clear as when caught.” | 4 | ···· |
| The morning came. To the park of the peer | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| The royal couple bore; | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And the font was filled with the Jordan water, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| And the household awaited their guests before | 11 | ··/·˘/˘···· |
| The carpeted door. | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| But when they went to the silk-lined cot | 9 | ········· |
| The child was found to have died. | 7 | ······· |
| “What’s now to be done? We can disappoint not | 11 | ········˘/· |
| The king and queen!” the family cried | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With eyes spread wide. | 4 | ···· |
| “Even now they approach the chestnut-drive! | 9 | /··˘/·/·· |
| The service must be read.” | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| “Well, since we can’t christen the child alive, | 10 | ····/˘··˘/ |
| By God we shall have to christen him dead!” | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| The marquis said. | 4 | ··/· |
| Thus, breath-forsaken, a corpse was taken | 10 | ··˘/˘···/˘ |
| To the private chapel—yea— | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| And the king knew not, nor the queen, God wot, | 10 | ·········· |
| That they answered for one returned to clay | 10 | ··/˘··˘/·· |
| At the font that day. | 5 | ····· |
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