“We Sat at the Window”
WE sat at the window looking out,And the rain came down like silken stringsThat Swithin’s day. Each gutter and spoutBabbled unchecked in the busy wayOf witless things:Nothing to read, nothing to seeSeemed in that room for her and meOn Swithin’s day.
We were irked by the scene, by our own selves; yes,For I did not know, nor did she inferHow much there was to read and guessBy her in me, and to see and crownBy me in her.Wasted were two souls in their prime,And great was the waste, that July timeWhen the rain came down.
Words in this poem
- witless a.
- Destitute of wit or understanding; wanting thought; hence, indiscreet; not under the guidance of judgment.
- infer v. t.
- To bring on; to induce; to occasion. Harvey. [L. inferre to bring into, bring forward, occasion, infer; pref. in- in + ferre to carry, bring: cf. F. inférer. See 1 st Bear.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
“We Sat at the Window” 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, “We Sat at the Window”, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/we-sat-at-the-window.html, id L24101.
Form and metre
“We Sat at the Window” is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABACBDDC. 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 ABACBDDC outA · stringsB · spoutA · wayC · thingsB · seeD · meD · dayC
- 2 ABACBDDC yesA · inferB · guessA · crownC · herB · primeD · timeD · downC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| WE sat at the window looking out, | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| And the rain came down like silken strings | 9 | ······/˘· |
| That Swithin’s day. Each gutter and spout | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Babbled unchecked in the busy way | 9 | /˘˘/··/˘· |
| Of witless things: | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Nothing to read, nothing to see | 8 | /˘··/˘·· |
| Seemed in that room for her and me | 8 | ········ |
| On Swithin’s day. | 4 | ···· |
| We were irked by the scene, by our own selves; yes, | 11 | ·······/··· |
| For I did not know, nor did she infer | 10 | ········˘/ |
| How much there was to read and guess | 8 | ········ |
| By her in me, and to see and crown | 9 | ········· |
| By me in her. | 4 | ···· |
| Wasted were two souls in their prime, | 8 | /˘······ |
| And great was the waste, that July time | 9 | ·······/· |
| When the rain came down. | 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.