“Why Did I Sketch”
WHY did I sketch an upland green,And put the figure inOf one on the spot with me?—For now that one has ceased to be seenThe picture waxes akinTo a wordless irony.
If you go drawing on down or cliffLet no soft curves intrudeOf a woman’s silhouette,But show the escarpments stark and stiffAs in utter solitude;So shall you half forget.
Let me sooner pass from sight of the skyThan again on a thoughtless dayLimn, laugh, and sing, and rhymeWith a woman sitting near, whom IPaint in for love, and who mayBe called hence in my time!
From an old note.
Words in this poem
- wordless a.
- Not using words; not speaking; silent; speechless.
- silhouette n.
- A representation of the outlines of an object filled in with a black color; a profile portrait in black, such as a shadow appears to be. [F.; -- so called from Etienne de Silhoutte, a French minister of finance in 1759, whise diversion it was to make such portraits on the walls of his apartments.]
- stark adv.
- Wholly; entirely; absolutely; quite; as, stark mind.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- limn v. t.
- To draw or paint; especially, to represent in an artistic way with pencil or brush. [OE. limnen, fr. luminen, for enluminen, F. enluminer to illuminate, to limn, LL. illuminare to paint. Illuminate, Luminous.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
“Why Did I Sketch” 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, “Why Did I Sketch”, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/why-did-i-sketch.html, id L24160.
Form and metre
“Why Did I Sketch” is 19 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABCABC, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 AB-AB- greenA · inB · me · seenA · akinB · irony
- 2 ABCABC cliffA · intrudeB · silhouetteC · stiffA · solitudeB · forgetC
- 3 ABCABC skyA · dayB · rhymeC · iA · mayB · timeC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| WHY did I sketch an upland green, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And put the figure in | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Of one on the spot with me?— | 7 | ······· |
| For now that one has ceased to be seen | 9 | ········· |
| The picture waxes akin | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| To a wordless irony. | 7 | ··/˘/˘˘ |
| If you go drawing on down or cliff | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Let no soft curves intrude | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Of a woman’s silhouette, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| But show the escarpments stark and stiff | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| As in utter solitude; | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| So shall you half forget. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Let me sooner pass from sight of the sky | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| Than again on a thoughtless day | 8 | ·˘/··/˘· |
| Limn, laugh, and sing, and rhyme | 6 | ······ |
| With a woman sitting near, whom I | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| Paint in for love, and who may | 7 | ······· |
| Be called hence in my time! | 7 | ··˘···· |
| From an old note. | 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.