Transformations
PORTION of this yewIs a man my grandsire knew,Bosomed here at its foot:This branch may be his wife,A ruddy human lifeNow turned to a green shoot.
These grasses must be madeOf her who often prayed,Last century, for repose;And the fair girl long agoWhom I often tried to knowMay be entering this rose.
So, they are not underground,But as nerves and veins aboundIn the growths of upper air,And they feel the sun and rain,And the energy againThat made them what they were!
Words in this poem
- grandsire n.
- Specifically, a grandfather; more generally, any ancestor. [OF. grantsire. See Grand, and Sire.]
- bosomed a.
- Having, or resembling, bosom; kept in the bosom; hidden.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Transformations 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, Transformations, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/transformations.html, id L24153.
Form and metre
Transformations is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 AA-BB- yewA · knewA · foot · wifeB · lifeB · shoot
- 2 AABCCB madeA · prayedA · reposeB · agoC · knowC · roseB
- 3 AA-BB- undergroundA · aboundA · air · rainB · againB · were
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 |
|---|---|---|
| PORTION of this yew | 5 | /˘··· |
| Is a man my grandsire knew, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Bosomed here at its foot: | 7 | /˘˘···· |
| This branch may be his wife, | 6 | ······ |
| A ruddy human life | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Now turned to a green shoot. | 7 | ··˘···· |
| These grasses must be made | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Of her who often prayed, | 7 | ···/˘·˘ |
| Last century, for repose; | 7 | ·/˘˘·˘/ |
| And the fair girl long ago | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Whom I often tried to know | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| May be entering this rose. | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| So, they are not underground, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| But as nerves and veins abound | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| In the growths of upper air, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And they feel the sun and rain, | 7 | ······· |
| And the energy again | 7 | ··/˘˘˘/ |
| That made them what they were! | 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.