The Sunshade
AH—it’s the skeleton of a lady’s sunshade,Here at my feet in the hard rock’s chink,Merely a naked sheaf of wires!—Twenty years have gone with their livers and diersSince it was silked in its white or pink.
Noonshine riddles the ribs of the sunshade,No more a screen from the weakest ray;Nothing to tell us the hue of its dyes,Nothing but rusty bones as it liesIn its coffin of stone, unseen till to-day.
Where is the woman who carried that sun-shadeUp and down this seaside place?—Little thumb standing against its stem,Thoughts perhaps bent on a love-stratagem,Softening yet more the already soft face!
Is the fair woman who carried that sunshadeA skeleton just as her property is,Laid in the chink that none may scan?And does she regret—if regret dust can—The vain things thought when she flourished this?
Words in this poem
- sunshade n.
- Anything used as a protection from the sun's rays.
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- seaside n.
- The land bordering on, or adjacent to, the sea; the seashore.
- scan v. t.
- To mount by steps; to go through with step by step. [L. scandere, scansum, to climb, to scan, akin to Skr. skand to spring, leap: cf. F. scander. Cf. Ascend, Descend, Scale a ladder.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Sunshade 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 Sunshade, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/the-sunshade.html, id L24176.
Form and metre
The Sunshade is 20 lines in 4 stanzas of 5 lines each. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic trimeter.
See other poems in iambic 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 -A--A sunshade · chinkA · wires · diers · pinkA
- 2 -ABBA sunshade · rayA · dyesB · liesB · dayA
- 3 -ABBA shade · placeA · stemB · stratagemB · faceA
- 4 --AA- sunshade · is · scanA · canA · this
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| AH—it’s the skeleton of a lady’s sunshade, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Here at my feet in the hard rock’s chink, | 9 | ········· |
| Merely a naked sheaf of wires!— | 9 | /˘·/˘··/˘ |
| Twenty years have gone with their livers and diers | 12 | /˘·····/˘·/˘ |
| Since it was silked in its white or pink. | 9 | ········· |
| Noonshine riddles the ribs of the sunshade, | 10 | ··/˘····/˘ |
| No more a screen from the weakest ray; | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Nothing to tell us the hue of its dyes, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Nothing but rusty bones as it lies | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| In its coffin of stone, unseen till to-day. | 11 | ··/˘··˘/··· |
| Where is the woman who carried that sun-shade | 11 | ···/˘·/˘··· |
| Up and down this seaside place?— | 7 | ····/·· |
| Little thumb standing against its stem, | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| Thoughts perhaps bent on a love-stratagem, | 9 | ·˘/····/˘ |
| Softening yet more the already soft face! | 10 | /˘···˘/˘·· |
| Is the fair woman who carried that sunshade | 11 | ···/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| A skeleton just as her property is, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Laid in the chink that none may scan? | 8 | ········ |
| And does she regret—if regret dust can— | 10 | ···˘/·˘/·· |
| The vain things thought when she flourished this? | 9 | ······/˘· |
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.