The Man with a Past
THERE was merry-makingWhen the first dart fellAs a heralding,—Till grinned the fully bared thing,And froze like a spell—Like a spell.
Innocent was she,Innocent was I,Too simple we!Before us we did not see,Nearing, aught wry—Aught wry!
I can tell it not now,It was long ago;And such things cow;But that is why and howTwo lives were so—Were so.
Yes, the years matured,And the blows were threeThat time ensuredOn her, which she dumbly endured;And one on me—One on me.
Words in this poem
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- dumbly adv.
- In silence; mutely.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Man with a Past 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 Man with a Past, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/the-man-with-a-past.html, id L24199.
Form and metre
The Man with a Past is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAABB. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 ABAABB makingA · fellB · heraldingA · thingA · spellB · spellB
- 2 ABAABB sheA · iB · weA · seeA · wryB · wryB
- 3 ABAABB nowA · agoB · cowA · howA · soB · soB
- 4 ABAABB maturedA · threeB · ensuredA · enduredA · meB · 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 trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| THERE was merry-making | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| When the first dart fell | 5 | ····· |
| As a heralding,— | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| Till grinned the fully bared thing, | 8 | ··˘·/˘·· |
| And froze like a spell— | 5 | ····· |
| Like a spell. | 3 | ··· |
| Innocent was she, | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| Innocent was I, | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| Too simple we! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Before us we did not see, | 7 | ······· |
| Nearing, aught wry— | 4 | /˘·· |
| Aught wry! | 2 | ·· |
| I can tell it not now, | 6 | ······ |
| It was long ago; | 5 | ···˘/ |
| And such things cow; | 4 | ···· |
| But that is why and how | 6 | ······ |
| Two lives were so— | 4 | ···· |
| Were so. | 2 | ·· |
| Yes, the years matured, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| And the blows were three | 5 | ····· |
| That time ensured | 4 | ··˘/ |
| On her, which she dumbly endured; | 8 | ····/˘˘/ |
| And one on me— | 4 | ···· |
| One on me. | 3 | ··· |
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.