The Clock-Winder
IT is dark as a cave,Or a vault in the naveWhen the iron doorIs closed, and the floorOf the church relaidWith trowel and spade.
But the parish-clerkCares not for the darkAs he winds in the towerAt a regular hourThe rheumatic clock,Whose dilatory knockYou can hear when prayingAt the day’s decaying,Or at any lone whileFrom a pew in the aisle.
Up, up from the groundAround and aroundIn the turret stairHe clambers, to whereThe wheelwork is,With its tick, click, whizz,Reposefully measuringEach day to its endThat mortal men spendIn sorrowing and pleasuringNightly thus does he climbTo the trackway of Time.
Him I followed one nightTo this place without light,And, ere I spoke, heardHim say, word by word,At the end of his winding,The darkness unminding:—
“So I wipe out one more,My Dear, of the soreSad days that still be,Like a drying Dead Sea,Between you and me!”
Who she was no man knew:He had long borne him blindTo all womankind;And was ever one whoKept his past out of view.
Words in this poem
- rheumatic a.
- Derived from, or having the character of, rheum; rheumic. [Gr. rheumaticus, F. rhumatique. See Rheum, Rheumatism.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- wheelwork n.
- A combination of wheels, and their connection, in a machine or mechanism.
- whizz v. i.
- To make a humming or hissing sound, like an arrow or ball flying through the air; to fly or move swiftly with a sharp hissing or whistling sound. [Of imitative origin. Whistle, and Hiss.]
- nightly a.
- Of or pertaining to the night, or to every night; happening or done by night, or every night; as, nightly shades; he kept nightly vigils.
- trackway n.
- Any of two or more narrow paths, of steel, smooth stone, or the like, laid in a public roadway otherwise formed of an inferior pavement, as cobblestones, to provide an easy way for wheels.
- 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.]
- womankind n.
- The females of the human race; women, collectively.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Clock-Winder 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 Clock-Winder, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/the-clock-winder.html, id L24211.
Form and metre
The Clock-Winder is 44 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 82% of the lines. The metre is anapaestic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in anapaestic 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 AABBCC caveA · naveA · doorB · floorB · relaidC · spadeC
- 2 --AABBCCDD clerk · dark · towerA · hourA · clockB · knockB · prayingC · decayingC · whileD · aisleD
- 3 AABBCCDEEDFF groundA · aroundA · stairB · whereB · isC · whizzC · measuringD · endE · spendE · pleasuringD · climbF · timeF
- 4 AABBCC nightA · lightA · heardB · wordB · windingC · unmindingC
- 5 AABBB moreA · soreA · beB · seaB · meB
- 6 ABBAA knewA · blindB · womankindB · whoA · viewA
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 anapaestic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| IT is dark as a cave, | 6 | ······ |
| Or a vault in the nave | 6 | ······ |
| When the iron door | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Is closed, and the floor | 5 | ····· |
| Of the church relaid | 5 | ···˘/ |
| With trowel and spade. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| But the parish-clerk | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Cares not for the dark | 5 | ····· |
| As he winds in the tower | 6 | ·····/ |
| At a regular hour | 5 | ··/˘/ |
| The rheumatic clock, | 5 | ·˘/˘· |
| Whose dilatory knock | 6 | ·/˘·˘· |
| You can hear when praying | 6 | ····/˘ |
| At the day’s decaying, | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Or at any lone while | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| From a pew in the aisle. | 6 | ······ |
| Up, up from the ground | 5 | ····· |
| Around and around | 5 | ····· |
| In the turret stair | 5 | ··/˘· |
| He clambers, to where | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| The wheelwork is, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| With its tick, click, whizz, | 5 | ····· |
| Reposefully measuring | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Each day to its end | 5 | ····· |
| That mortal men spend | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| In sorrowing and pleasuring | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Nightly thus does he climb | 6 | /˘···· |
| To the trackway of Time. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Him I followed one night | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| To this place without light, | 6 | ······ |
| And, ere I spoke, heard | 5 | ····· |
| Him say, word by word, | 5 | ····· |
| At the end of his winding, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The darkness unminding:— | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| “So I wipe out one more, | 6 | ······ |
| My Dear, of the sore | 5 | ····· |
| Sad days that still be, | 5 | ····· |
| Like a drying Dead Sea, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Between you and me!” | 5 | ····· |
| Who she was no man knew: | 6 | ······ |
| He had long borne him blind | 6 | ······ |
| To all womankind; | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| And was ever one who | 5 | ··/·· |
| Kept his past out of view. | 6 | ······ |
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.