The Tresses
“WHEN the air was dampIt made my curls hang slackAs they kissed my neck and backWhile I footed the salt-aired trackI loved to tramp.
“When it was dryThey would roll up crisp and tightAs I went on in the lightOf the sun, which my own spriteSeemed to outvie.
“Now I am old;And have not one gay curlAs I had when a girlFor dampness to unfurlOr sun uphold!”
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- sprite n.
- A spirit; a soul; a shade; also, an apparition. See Spright. [OE. sprit, F. esprit, fr. L. spiritus. See Spirit, and cf. Sprightly.]
- outvie v. t.
- To exceed in vying.
- dampness n.
- Moderate humidity; moisture; fogginess; moistness.
- unfurl v. t.
- To loose from a furled state; to unfold; to expand; to open or spread; as, to unfurl sails; to unfurl a flag. [1st pref. un- + furl.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Tresses 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 Tresses, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/the-tresses.html, id L24147.
Form and metre
The Tresses is 15 lines in 3 stanzas of 5 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBBA, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 ABBBA dampA · slackB · backB · trackB · trampA
- 2 -AAA- dry · tightA · lightA · spriteA · outvie
- 3 ABBBA oldA · curlB · girlB · unfurlB · upholdA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “WHEN the air was damp | 5 | ····· |
| It made my curls hang slack | 6 | ······ |
| As they kissed my neck and back | 7 | ······· |
| While I footed the salt-aired track | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| I loved to tramp. | 4 | ···· |
| “When it was dry | 4 | ···· |
| They would roll up crisp and tight | 7 | ······· |
| As I went on in the light | 7 | ······· |
| Of the sun, which my own sprite | 7 | ······· |
| Seemed to outvie. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| “Now I am old; | 4 | ···· |
| And have not one gay curl | 6 | ······ |
| As I had when a girl | 6 | ······ |
| For dampness to unfurl | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Or sun uphold!” | 4 | ··˘/ |
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.