The Head Above the Fog
SOMETHING do I seeAbove the fog that sheets the mead,A figure like to life indeed,Moving along with spectre-speed,Seen by none but me.
O the vision keen!—Tripping along to me for loveAs in the flesh it used to move,Only its hat and plume aboveThe evening fog-fleece seen.
In the day-fall wan,When nighted birds break off their song,Mere ghostly head it skims along,Just as it did when warm and strong,Body seeming gone.
Such it is I seeAbove the fog that sheets the mead—Yea, that which once could breathe and plead!—Skimming along with spectre-speedTo a last tryst with me.
Words in this poem
- nighted a.
- Darkness; clouded.
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
- skimming n.
- The act of one who skims.
- tryst v. i.
- To mutually agree to meet at a certain place.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Head Above the Fog 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 Head Above the Fog, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/the-head-above-the-fog.html, id L24165.
Form and metre
The Head Above the Fog is 20 lines in 4 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBBA, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 ABBBA seeA · meadB · indeedB · speedB · meA
- 2 ABBBA keenA · loveB · moveB · aboveB · seenA
- 3 -AAA- wan · songA · alongA · strongA · gone
- 4 ABBBA seeA · meadB · pleadB · speedB · meA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| SOMETHING do I see | 5 | /˘··· |
| Above the fog that sheets the mead, | 8 | ········ |
| A figure like to life indeed, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Moving along with spectre-speed, | 8 | /˘˘/·/˘· |
| Seen by none but me. | 5 | ····· |
| O the vision keen!— | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Tripping along to me for love | 8 | /˘˘/···· |
| As in the flesh it used to move, | 8 | ········ |
| Only its hat and plume above | 8 | /˘······ |
| The evening fog-fleece seen. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| In the day-fall wan, | 5 | ····· |
| When nighted birds break off their song, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Mere ghostly head it skims along, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Just as it did when warm and strong, | 8 | ········ |
| Body seeming gone. | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| Such it is I see | 5 | ····· |
| Above the fog that sheets the mead— | 8 | ········ |
| Yea, that which once could breathe and plead!— | 8 | ········ |
| Skimming along with spectre-speed | 8 | /˘˘/·/˘· |
| To a last tryst with me. | 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.