The Young Churchwarden
WHEN he lit the candles there,And the light fell on his hand,And it trembled as he scannedHer and me, his vanquished airHinted that his dream was done,And I saw he had begunTo understand.
When Love’s viol was unstrung,Sore I wished the hand that shookHad been mine that shared her bookWhile that evening hymn was sung,His the victor’s, as he litCandles where he had bidden us sitWith vanquished look.
Now her dust lies listless there,His afar from tending hand,What avails the victory scanned?Does he smile from upper air:“Ah, my friend, your dream is done;And ’tis you who have begunTo understand!
Words in this poem
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- listless a.
- Having no desire or inclination; indifferent; heedless; spiritless. [OE. listles, lustles. See Lust.]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Young Churchwarden 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 Young Churchwarden, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/the-young-churchwarden.html, id L24130.
Form and metre
The Young Churchwarden is 21 lines in 3 stanzas of 7 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBACCB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABBACCB thereA · handB · scannedB · airA · doneC · begunC · understandB
- 2 ABBACCB unstrungA · shookB · bookB · sungA · litC · sitC · lookB
- 3 ABBACCB thereA · handB · scannedB · airA · doneC · begunC · understandB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| WHEN he lit the candles there, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And the light fell on his hand, | 7 | ······· |
| And it trembled as he scanned | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Her and me, his vanquished air | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Hinted that his dream was done, | 7 | /˘····· |
| And I saw he had begun | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| To understand. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| When Love’s viol was unstrung, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Sore I wished the hand that shook | 8 | ···˘···· |
| Had been mine that shared her book | 8 | ·····˘·· |
| While that evening hymn was sung, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| His the victor’s, as he lit | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Candles where he had bidden us sit | 9 | /˘···/˘·· |
| With vanquished look. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Now her dust lies listless there, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| His afar from tending hand, | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| What avails the victory scanned? | 8 | ·˘/·/˘˘· |
| Does he smile from upper air: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| “Ah, my friend, your dream is done; | 7 | ······· |
| And ’tis you who have begun | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| To understand! | 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.