The Rival
I DETERMINED to find out whose it was—The portrait he looked at so, and sighed;Bitterly have I rued my meannessAnd wept for it since he died!
I searched his desk when he was away,And there was the likeness—yes, my own!Taken when I was the season’s fairest,And time-lines all unknown.
I smiled at my image, and put it back,And he went on cherishing it, untilI was chafed that he loved not the me then living,But that past woman still.
Well, such was my jealousy at last,I destroyed that face of the former me;Could you ever have dreamed the heart of womanWould work so foolishly!
Words in this poem
- bitterly adv.
- In a bitter manner.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Rival 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 Rival, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/the-rival.html, id L24109.
Form and metre
The Rival is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%).
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 -A-A was · sighedA · meanness · diedA
- 2 -A-A away · ownA · fairest · unknownA
- 3 -A-A back · untilA · living · stillA
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 DETERMINED to find out whose it was— | 10 | ·˘/˘······ |
| The portrait he looked at so, and sighed; | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Bitterly have I rued my meanness | 9 | /˘˘····/˘ |
| And wept for it since he died! | 7 | ······· |
| I searched his desk when he was away, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| And there was the likeness—yes, my own! | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Taken when I was the season’s fairest, | 10 | /˘····/˘/˘ |
| And time-lines all unknown. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| I smiled at my image, and put it back, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| And he went on cherishing it, until | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| I was chafed that he loved not the me then living, | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| But that past woman still. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Well, such was my jealousy at last, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| I destroyed that face of the former me; | 10 | ·˘/····/˘· |
| Could you ever have dreamed the heart of woman | 10 | ··/·····/˘ |
| Would work so foolishly! | 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.