The Voice of Things
FORTY Augusts—aye, and several more—ago,When I paced the headlands loosed from dull employ,The waves huzza’d like a multitude belowIn the sway of an all-including joyWithout cloy.
Blankly I walked there a double decade after,When thwarts had flung their toils in front of me,And I heard the waters wagging in a long ironic laughterAt the lot of men, and all the vapouryThings that be.
Wheeling change has set me again standing whereOnce I heard the waves huzza at Lammas-tide;But they supplicate now—like a congregation thereWho murmur the Confession—I outside,Prayer denied.
(Wooer’s Song)
WHY be at pains that I should knowYou sought not me?Do breezes, then, make features glowSo rosily?Come, the lit port is at our back,And the tumbling sea;Elsewhere the lampless uphill trackTo uncertainty!
O should not we two waifs join hands?I am alone,You would enrich me more than landsBy being my own.Yet, though this facile moment flies,Close is your tone,And ere to-morrow’s dewfall driesI plough the unknown.
Words in this poem
- huzza interj.
- A word used as a shout of joy, exultation, approbation, or encouragement. [Cf. G. hussa, husa, interj., hurrah, huzza. sq. root43. Cf. Hurrah.]
- cloy v. t.
- To fill or choke up; to stop up; to clog. [OE. cloer to nail up, F. clouer, fr. OF. clo nail, F. clou, fr. L. clavus nail. Cf. 3d Clove.]
- blankly adv.
- In a blank manner; without expression; vacuously; as, to stare blankly. G. Eliot.
- decade n.
- A group or division of ten; esp., a period of ten years; a decennium; as, a decade of years or days; a decade of soldiers; the second decade of Livy. [F. décade, L. decas, -adis, fr. Gr. Ten.]
- ironic a.
- Ironical. Sir T. Herbert.
- wheeling n.
- The act of conveying anything, or traveling, on wheels, or in a wheeled vehicle.
- rosily adv.
- In a rosy manner. M. Arnold.
- lampless a.
- Being without a lamp, or without light; hence, being without appreciation; dull.
- uphill adv.
- Upwards on, or as on, a hillside; as, to walk uphill.
- facile a.
- Easy to be done or performed: not difficult; performable or attainable with little labor. [L. facilis, prop., capable of being done or made, hence, facile, easy, fr. facere to make, do: cf. F. facile. Srr Fact, and cf. Faculty.]
- dewfall n.
- The falling of dew; the time when dew begins to fall.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Voice of Things 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 Voice of Things, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/the-voice-of-things.html, id L24100.
Form and metre
The Voice of Things is 32 lines in 6 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABB, in 2 of the 6 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. 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 ABABB agoA · employB · belowA · joyB · cloyB
- 2 ABA-B afterA · meB · laughterA · vapoury · beB
- 3 ABABB whereA · tideB · thereA · outsideB · deniedB
- 5 ABA-CBC- knowA · meB · glowA · rosily · backC · seaB · trackC · uncertainty
- 6 ABABCBCB handsA · aloneB · landsA · ownB · fliesC · toneB · driesC · unknownB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| FORTY Augusts—aye, and several more—ago, | 11 | /˘/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| When I paced the headlands loosed from dull employ, | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| The waves huzza’d like a multitude below | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| In the sway of an all-including joy | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Without cloy. | 3 | ··· |
| Blankly I walked there a double decade after, | 12 | /˘····/˘/˘·· |
| When thwarts had flung their toils in front of me, | 10 | ·········· |
| And I heard the waters wagging in a long ironic laughter | 16 | ····/˘/˘···˘/˘/˘ |
| At the lot of men, and all the vapoury | 11 | ··········· |
| Things that be. | 3 | ··· |
| Wheeling change has set me again standing where | 11 | /˘····˘//˘· |
| Once I heard the waves huzza at Lammas-tide; | 11 | ·····˘/·/˘· |
| But they supplicate now—like a congregation there | 13 | ··/˘˘····˘/˘· |
| Who murmur the Confession—I outside, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·// |
| Prayer denied. | 3 | ·˘/ |
| (Wooer’s Song) | 2 | ·· |
| WHY be at pains that I should know | 8 | ········ |
| You sought not me? | 4 | ···· |
| Do breezes, then, make features glow | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| So rosily? | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| Come, the lit port is at our back, | 8 | ······/· |
| And the tumbling sea; | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| Elsewhere the lampless uphill track | 8 | /··/˘//· |
| To uncertainty! | 5 | ·˘/˘˘ |
| O should not we two waifs join hands? | 8 | ········ |
| I am alone, | 4 | ··˘/ |
| You would enrich me more than lands | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| By being my own. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Yet, though this facile moment flies, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Close is your tone, | 4 | ···· |
| And ere to-morrow’s dewfall dries | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| I plough the unknown. | 5 | ···˘/ |
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.