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

A Man (In Memory of H. of M.)

Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) · 1901

iambic pentameter · 35 lines · from Poems of the Past and the Present

IN Casterbridge there stood a noble pile,Wrought with pilaster, bay, and balustradeIn tactful times when shrewd Eliza swayed.—On burgher, squire, and clownIt smiled the long street down for near a mile

But evil days beset that domicile;The stately beauties of its roof and wallPassed into sordid hands. Condemned to fallWere cornice, quoin, and cove,And all that art had wove in antique style.

Among the hired dismantlers entered thereOne till the moment of his task untold.When charged therewith he gazed, and answered bold:“Be needy I or no,I will not help lay low a house so fair!

“Hunger is hard. But since the terms be such—No wage, or labour stained with the disgraceOf wrecking what our age cannot replaceTo save its tasteless soul—I’ll do without your dole. Life is not much!”

Dismissed with sneers he backed his tools and went,And wandered workless; for it seemed unwiseTo close with one who dared to criticizeAnd carp on points of taste:To work where they were placed rude men were meant.

Years whiled. He aged, sank, sickened, and was not:And it was said, “A man intractableAnd curst is gone.” None sighed to hear his knell,None sought his churchyard-place;His name, his rugged face, were soon forgot.

The stones of that fair hall lie far and wide,And but a few recall its ancient mould;Yet when I pass the spot I long to holdAs truth what fancy saith:“His protest lives where deathless things abide!”

Words in this poem 21

balustrade n.: A row of balusters topped by a rail, serving as an open parapet, as along the edge of a balcony, terrace, bridge, staircase, or the eaves of a building.
tactful a.: Full of tact; characterized by a discerning sense of what is right, proper, or judicious.
shrewd a.: Inclining to shrew; disposing to curse or scold; hence, vicious; malicious; evil; wicked; mischievous; vexatious; rough; unfair; shrewish. [Originally the p. p. of shrew, v.t.]
swayed a.: Bent down, and hollow in the back; sway-backed; -- said of a horse.
burgher n.: A freeman of a burgh or borough, entitled to enjoy the privileges of the place; any inhabitant of a borough. [From burgh; akin to D. burger, G. bürger, Dan. borger, Sw. borgare. See Burgh.]
domicile n.: An abode or mansion; a place of permanent residence, either of an individual or a family. [L. domicilium; domus house + (prob.) root of celare to conceal: cf. F. domicile. See Dome, and Conceal.]
sordid a.: Filthy; foul; dirty. [L. sordidus, fr. sordere to be filthy or dirty; probably akin to E. swart: cf. F. sordide. See Swart, a.]
quoin n.: Originally, a solid exterior angle, as of a building; now, commonly, one of the selected pieces of material by which the corner is marked. [See Coin, and cf. Coigne.]
cove v. t.: To brood, cover, over, or sit over, as birds their eggs. [CF. F. couver, It. covare. See Covey.]
wove: p. pr. & rare vb. n. of Weave.
untold a.: Not told; not related; not revealed; as, untold secrets.
therewith adv.: With that or this.
wage v. i.: To bind one's self; to engage.
wrecking: a. & n. from Wreck, v. Wrecking car (Railway), a car fitted up with apparatus and implements for removing the wreck occasioned by an accident, as by a collision.
went n.: Course; way; path; journey; direction.
workless a.: Without work; not laboring; as, many people were still workless.
curst a.: Froward; malignant; mischievous; malicious; snarling. [SeeCurse.]
churchyard n.: The ground adjoining a church, in which the dead are buried; a cemetery.
mould n.: Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
saith: 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
deathless a.: Not subject to death, destruction, or extinction; immortal; undying; imperishable; as, deathless beings; deathless fame.

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

About this text

A Man (In Memory of H. of M.) 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 Man (In Memory of H. of M.), 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-man-in-memory-of-h-of-m.html, id L16922.

Form and metre

A Man (In Memory of H. of M.) is 35 lines in 7 stanzas of 5 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 34% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in iambic pentameter.

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 pile^A · balustrade · swayed · clown · mile^A
2 -AA-- domicile · wall^A · fall^A · cove · style
3 ABB-A there^A · untold^B · bold^B · no · fair^A
4 ABB-A such^A · disgrace^B · replace^B · soul · much^A
5 ABB-A went^A · unwise^B · criticize^B · taste · meant^A
6 ABB-A not^A · intractable^B · knell^B · place · forgot^A
7 ABB-A wide^A · mould^B · hold^B · saith · abide^A

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 pentameter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
IN Casterbridge there stood a noble pile,	10	·······/˘·
Wrought with pilaster, bay, and balustrade	10	··˘/˘··/˘˘
In tactful times when shrewd Eliza swayed.—	10	·/˘···˘/˘·
On burgher, squire, and clown	6	·/˘···
It smiled the long street down for near a mile	10	··········
But evil days beset that domicile;	10	·/˘·˘/·/˘˘
The stately beauties of its roof and wall	10	·/˘/˘·····
Passed into sordid hands. Condemned to fall	10	···/˘·˘/··
Were cornice, quoin, and cove,	6	·/˘···
And all that art had wove in antique style.	10	·······˘/·
Among the hired dismantlers entered there	10	···/···/˘·
One till the moment of his task untold.	10	···/˘···˘/
When charged therewith he gazed, and answered bold:	10	··˘/···/˘·
“Be needy I or no,	6	·/˘···
I will not help lay low a house so fair!	10	··········
“Hunger is hard. But since the terms be such—	10	/˘········
No wage, or labour stained with the disgrace	10	···/····˘/
Of wrecking what our age cannot replace	10	·/˘·/·˘/˘/
To save its tasteless soul—	6	···/˘·
I’ll do without your dole. Life is not much!”	10	··········
Dismissed with sneers he backed his tools and went,	10	˘/········
And wandered workless; for it seemed unwise	10	·/˘/˘···˘/
To close with one who dared to criticize	10	·······/˘·
And carp on points of taste:	6	······
To work where they were placed rude men were meant.	10	··········
Years whiled. He aged, sank, sickened, and was not:	10	·····/˘···
And it was said, “A man intractable	10	······˘/˘˘
And curst is gone.” None sighed to hear his knell,	10	··········
None sought his churchyard-place;	6	···/··
His name, his rugged face, were soon forgot.	10	···/˘···˘/
The stones of that fair hall lie far and wide,	10	··········
And but a few recall its ancient mould;	10	····˘/·/˘·
Yet when I pass the spot I long to hold	10	··········
As truth what fancy saith:	6	···/˘·
“His protest lives where deathless things abide!”	10	·/···/˘·˘/

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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