The Last Performance
“I AM playing my oldest tunes,” declared she,“All the old tunes I know,—Those I learnt ever so long ago.”—Why she should think just then she’d play themSilence cloaks like snow.
When I returned from the town at nightfallNotes continued to pourAs when I had left two hours before:“It’s the very last time,” she said in closing;“From now I play no more.”
A few morns onward found her fading,And, as her life outflew,I thought of her playing her tunes right through;And I felt she had known of what was coming,And wondered how she knew.
Words in this poem
- nightfall n.
- The close of the day.
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- wondered a.
- Having performed wonders; able to perform wonderful things.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Last Performance 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 Last Performance, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/the-last-performance.html, id L24172.
Form and metre
The Last Performance is 15 lines in 3 stanzas of 5 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 -AA-A she · knowA · agoA · them · snowA
- 2 -AA-A nightfall · pourA · beforeA · closing · moreA
- 3 -AA-A fading · outflewA · throughA · coming · knewA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| “I AM playing my oldest tunes,” declared she, | 11 | ··/˘·/˘·˘/· |
| “All the old tunes I know,— | 6 | ······ |
| Those I learnt ever so long ago.” | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| —Why she should think just then she’d play them | 9 | ········· |
| Silence cloaks like snow. | 5 | /˘··· |
| When I returned from the town at nightfall | 10 | ··˘/····/· |
| Notes continued to pour | 7 | ·˘/˘˘·· |
| As when I had left two hours before: | 9 | ······/·· |
| “It’s the very last time,” she said in closing; | 11 | ··/˘·····/˘ |
| “From now I play no more.” | 6 | ······ |
| A few morns onward found her fading, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| And, as her life outflew, | 6 | ······ |
| I thought of her playing her tunes right through; | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| And I felt she had known of what was coming, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| And wondered how she knew. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
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.