The Ageing House
WHEN the walls were redThat now are seenTo be overspreadWith a mouldy green,A fresh fair headWould often leanFrom the sunny casementAnd scan the scene,While blithely spoke the wind to the little sycamore tree.
But storms have ragedThose walls about,And the head has agedThat once looked out;And zest is suagedAnd trust is doubt,And slow effacementIs rife throughout,While fiercely girds the wind at the long-limbed sycamore tree!
Words in this poem
- mouldy a.
- Overgrown with, or containing, mold; as, moldy cheese or bread. [From Mold the growth of fungi.]
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- casement n.
- A window sash opening on hinges affixed to the upright side of the frame into which it is fitted. (Poetically) A window. [Shortened fr. encasement. See Incase 1st Case, and cf. Incasement.]
- scan v. t.
- To mount by steps; to go through with step by step. [L. scandere, scansum, to climb, to scan, akin to Skr. skand to spring, leap: cf. F. scander. Cf. Ascend, Descend, Scale a ladder.]
- blithely adv.
- In a blithe manner.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- zest n.
- A piece of orange or lemon peel, or the aromatic oil which may be squeezed from such peel, used to give flavor to liquor, etc. [F. zeste, probably fr. L. schistos split, cleft, divided, Gr. Schism.]
- effacement n.
- The act if effacing; also, the result of the act. [Cf. F. effacement.]
- rife a.
- Prevailing; prevalent; abounding. [AS. rif abundant, or Icel. rifr munificent; akin to OD. riff, rijve, abundant.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Ageing House 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, The Ageing House, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/the-ageing-house.html, id L24177.
Form and metre
The Ageing House is 18 lines in 2 stanzas of 9 lines each. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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 ABABAB-B- redA · seenB · overspreadA · greenB · headA · leanB · casement · sceneB · tree
- 2 ABABAB-B- ragedA · aboutB · agedA · outB · suagedA · doubtB · effacement · throughoutB · tree
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| WHEN the walls were red | 5 | ····· |
| That now are seen | 4 | ···· |
| To be overspread | 5 | ····· |
| With a mouldy green, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| A fresh fair head | 4 | ···· |
| Would often lean | 4 | ·/˘· |
| From the sunny casement | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| And scan the scene, | 4 | ···· |
| While blithely spoke the wind to the little sycamore tree. | 14 | ·/˘·····/˘/˘·· |
| But storms have raged | 4 | ···· |
| Those walls about, | 4 | ···· |
| And the head has aged | 5 | ····· |
| That once looked out; | 4 | ···· |
| And zest is suaged | 4 | ···· |
| And trust is doubt, | 4 | ···· |
| And slow effacement | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Is rife throughout, | 4 | ···· |
| While fiercely girds the wind at the long-limbed sycamore tree! | 14 | ·/˘·······/˘·· |
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.