The Announcement
THEY came, the brothers, and took two chairsIn their usual quiet way;And for a time we did not thinkThey had much to say.
And they began and talked awhileOf ordinary things,Till spread that silence in the roomA pent thought brings.
And then they said: “The end has come.Yes: it has come at last.”And we looked down, and knew that dayA spirit had passed.
Words in this poem
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- pent p. p.
- Penned or shut up; confined; -- often with up. [From Pen, v. t.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Announcement 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 Announcement, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/the-announcement.html, id L24145.
Form and metre
The Announcement is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 chairs · wayA · think · sayA
- 2 -A-A awhile · thingsA · room · bringsA
- 3 -A-A come · lastA · day · passedA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| THEY came, the brothers, and took two chairs | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| In their usual quiet way; | 8 | ··/˘˘/˘· |
| And for a time we did not think | 8 | ········ |
| They had much to say. | 5 | ····· |
| And they began and talked awhile | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Of ordinary things, | 6 | ·/˘·˘· |
| Till spread that silence in the room | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A pent thought brings. | 4 | ···· |
| And then they said: “The end has come. | 8 | ········ |
| Yes: it has come at last.” | 6 | ······ |
| And we looked down, and knew that day | 8 | ········ |
| A spirit had passed. | 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.