Laurel · Thomas Hardy · Poems of the Past and the Present

A Commonplace Day

Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) · 1901

iambic trimeter · 37 lines · from Poems of the Past and the Present

THE day is turning ghost,And scuttles from the kalendar in fits and furtively,To join the anonymous hostOf those that throng oblivion; ceding his place, maybe,To one of like degree.

I part the fire-gnawed logs,Rake forth the embers, spoil the busy flames, and lay the endsUpon the shining dogs;Further and further from the nooks the twilight’s stride extends,And beamless black impends.

Nothing of tiniest worthHave I wrought, pondered, planned; no one thing asking blame orpraise,Since the pale corpse-like birthOf this diurnal unit, bearing blanks in all its rays—Dullest of dull-hued Days!

Wanly upon the panesThe rain slides as have slid since morn my colourless thoughts; andyetHere, while Day’s presence wanes,And over him the sepulchre-lid is slowly lowered and set,He wakens my regret.

Regret—though nothing dearThat I wot of, was toward in the wide world at his prime,Or bloomed elsewhere than here,To die with his decease, and leave a memory sweet, sublime,Or mark him out in Time . . .

—Yet, maybe, in some soul,In some spot undiscerned on sea or land, some impulse rose,Or some intent upstoleOf that enkindling ardency from whose maturer glowsThe world’s amendment flows;

But which, benumbed at birthBy momentary chance or wile, has missed its hope to beEmbodied on the earth;And undervoicings of this loss to man’s futurityMay wake regret in me.

Words in this poem

ghost n.: The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
furtively adv.: Stealthily by theft. Lover.
oblivion n.: The act of forgetting, or the state of being forgotten; cessation of remembrance; forgetfulness. [L. oblivio, akin to oblivisci to forget: cf. OF. oblivion.]
maybe adv.: Perhaps; possibly; peradventure. [For it may be.]
stride v. t.: To walk with long steps, especially in a measured or pompous manner. [AS. stridan to stride, to strive; akin to LG. striden, OFries. strida to strive, D. strijden to strive, to contend, G. streiten, OHG. stritan; of uncertain orig]
beamless a.: Not having a beam.
corpse n.: A human body in general, whether living or dead; -- sometimes contemptuosly. [OF. cors (sometimes written corps), F. corps, L. corpus; akin to AS. hrif womb. See Midriff, and cf. Corse, Corselet, Corps, Cuerpo.]
wanly adv.: In a wan, or pale, manner.
morn n.: The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
sepulchre n.: The place in which the dead body of a human being is interred, or a place set apart for that purpose; a grave; a tomb. [OE. sepulcre, OF. sepulcre, F. sépulcre, fr. L. sepulcrum, sepulchrum, fr. sepelire to bury.]
ardency n.: Heat. Sir T. Herbert.
maturer n.: One who brings to maturity.
wile n.: A trick or stratagem practiced for insnaring or deception; a sly, insidious; artifice; a beguilement; an allurement. [OE. wile, AS. wil; cf. Icel. v, væl. Cf. Guile.]
futurity n.: State of being that is yet to come; future state.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

A Commonplace Day is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of the Past and the Present, Project Gutenberg ebook #3168; 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, A Commonplace Day, in Poems of the Past and the Present (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3168, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-past-and-present/a-commonplace-day.html, id L16872.

Form and metre

A Commonplace Day is 37 lines in 7 stanzas. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABB, in 2 of the 7 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.9 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

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 A-A-- ghost^A · furtively · host^A · maybe · degree
2 ABABB logs^A · ends^B · dogs^A · extends^B · impends^B
3 A-BABB worth^A · or · praise^B · birth^A · rays^B · days^B
4 A-BABB panes^A · and · yet^B · wanes^A · set^B · regret^B
5 ABABB dear^A · prime^B · here^A · sublime^B · time^B
6 -A-AA soul · rose^A · upstole · glows^A · flows^A
7 ABA-B birth^A · be^B · earth^A · futurity · me^B

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
THE day is turning ghost,	6	···/˘·
And scuttles from the kalendar in fits and furtively,	13	·/˘··/˘˘···/˘
To join the anonymous host	8	···˘/˘˘·
Of those that throng oblivion; ceding his place, maybe,	13	····˘/˘/˘··/˘
To one of like degree.	6	····˘/
I part the fire-gnawed logs,	7	···/˘··
Rake forth the embers, spoil the busy flames, and lay the ends	14	···/˘··/˘·····
Upon the shining dogs;	6	···/˘·
Further and further from the nooks the twilight’s stride extends,	14	/˘·/˘····/··˘/
And beamless black impends.	6	·/˘·˘/
Nothing of tiniest worth	7	/˘·/˘˘·
Have I wrought, pondered, planned; no one thing asking blame or	13	···/˘····/˘··
praise,	1	·
Since the pale corpse-like birth	6	······
Of this diurnal unit, bearing blanks in all its rays—	14	··˘/˘/˘/˘·····
Dullest of dull-hued Days!	6	/˘····
Wanly upon the panes	6	/˘····
The rain slides as have slid since morn my colourless thoughts; and	14	··············
yet	1	·
Here, while Day’s presence wanes,	6	···/˘·
And over him the sepulchre-lid is slowly lowered and set,	14	········/˘/˘··
He wakens my regret.	6	·/˘·˘/
Regret—though nothing dear	6	˘/·/˘·
That I wot of, was toward in the wide world at his prime,	14	··············
Or bloomed elsewhere than here,	6	··/···
To die with his decease, and leave a memory sweet, sublime,	14	····˘/···/˘·˘/
Or mark him out in Time . . .	6	······
—Yet, maybe, in some soul,	6	·/˘···
In some spot undiscerned on sea or land, some impulse rose,	14	···········/˘·
Or some intent upstole	7	··˘/···
Of that enkindling ardency from whose maturer glows	14	·····/˘˘··˘/˘·
The world’s amendment flows;	6	··˘/˘·
But which, benumbed at birth	6	··˘/··
By momentary chance or wile, has missed its hope to be	14	·/˘·˘·········
Embodied on the earth;	6	˘/˘···
And undervoicings of this loss to man’s futurity	14	··········˘/˘˘
May wake regret in me.	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.

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