The Chimes
THAT morning when I trod the townThe twitching chimes of long renownPlayed out to meThe sweet Sicilian sailors’ tune,And I knew not if late or soonMy day would be:
A day of sunshine beryl-brightAnd windless; yea, think as I might,I could not say,Even to within years’ measure, whenOne would be at my side who thenWas far away.
When hard utilitarian timesHad stilled the sweet Saint-Peter’s chimesI learnt to seeThat bale may spring where blisses are,And one desired might be afarThough near to me.
Words in this poem
- sicilian a.
- Of or pertaining to Sicily or its inhabitants. Sicilian vespers, the great massacre of the French in Sicily, in the year 1282, on the evening of Easter Monday, at the hour of vespers.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- windless a.
- Having no wind; calm.
- utilitarian a.
- Of or pertaining to utility; consisting in utility; as, utilitarian narrowness; a utilitarian indifference to art. [See Utility.]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Chimes 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 Chimes, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/the-chimes.html, id L24158.
Form and metre
The Chimes is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 AABCCB townA · renownA · meB · tuneC · soonC · beB
- 2 AABCCB brightA · mightA · sayB · whenC · thenC · awayB
- 3 AABCCB timesA · chimesA · seeB · areC · afarC · meB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| THAT morning when I trod the town | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The twitching chimes of long renown | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Played out to me | 4 | ···· |
| The sweet Sicilian sailors’ tune, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| And I knew not if late or soon | 8 | ········ |
| My day would be: | 4 | ···· |
| A day of sunshine beryl-bright | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| And windless; yea, think as I might, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I could not say, | 4 | ···· |
| Even to within years’ measure, when | 8 | /····/˘· |
| One would be at my side who then | 8 | ········ |
| Was far away. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| When hard utilitarian times | 8 | ··˘·˘/˘· |
| Had stilled the sweet Saint-Peter’s chimes | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I learnt to see | 4 | ···· |
| That bale may spring where blisses are, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And one desired might be afar | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| Though near to me. | 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.