A Wasted Illness
THROUGH vaults of pain,Enribbed and wrought with groins of ghastliness,I passed, and garish spectres moved my brainTo dire distress.
And hammerings,And quakes, and shoots, and stifling hotness, blentWith webby waxing things and waning thingsAs on I went.
“Where lies the endTo this foul way?” I asked with weakening breath.Thereon ahead I saw a door extend—The door to death.
It loomed more clear:“At last!” I cried. “The all-delivering door!”And then, I knew not how, it grew less nearThan theretofore.
And back slid IAlong the galleries by which I came,And tediously the day returned, and sky,And life—the same.
And all was well:Old circumstance resumed its former show,And on my head the dews of comfort fellAs ere my woe.
I roam anew,Scarce conscious of my late distress . . . And yetThose backward steps through pain I cannot viewWithout regret.
For that dire trainOf waxing shapes and waning, passed before,And those grim aisles, must be traversed againTo reach that door.
Words in this poem
- ghastliness n.
- The state of being ghastly; a deathlike look.
- garish a.
- Showy; dazzling; ostentatious; attracting or exciting attention. [Cf. OE. gauren to stare; of uncertain origin. Cf. gairish.]
- dire a.
- Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
- hotness n.
- The quality or state of being hot.
- blent p. p.
- Blinded. Also (Chaucer), 3d sing. pres. Blindeth.
- webby a.
- Of or pertaining to a web or webs; like a web; filled or covered with webs.
- waning n.
- The act or process of waning, or decreasing.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- thereon adv.
- On that or this. [AS. . See There, and On.]
- ahead adv.
- In or to the front; in advance; onward. [Pref. a- + head.]
- theretofore adv.
- Up to that time; before then; -- correlative with heretofore.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Wasted Illness 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 Wasted Illness, 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-wasted-illness.html, id L16921.
Form and metre
A Wasted Illness is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.9 syllables. 2 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 ABAB painA · ghastlinessB · brainA · distressB
- 2 ABAB hammeringsA · blentB · thingsA · wentB
- 3 ABAB endA · breathB · extendA · deathB
- 4 ABAB clearA · doorB · nearA · theretoforeB
- 5 ABAB iA · cameB · skyA · sameB
- 6 ABAB wellA · showB · fellA · woeB
- 7 ABAB anewA · yetB · viewA · regretB
- 8 ABAB trainA · beforeB · againA · doorB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| THROUGH vaults of pain, | 4 | ···· |
| Enribbed and wrought with groins of ghastliness, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| I passed, and garish spectres moved my brain | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| To dire distress. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| And hammerings, | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| And quakes, and shoots, and stifling hotness, blent | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| With webby waxing things and waning things | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| As on I went. | 4 | ···· |
| “Where lies the end | 4 | ···· |
| To this foul way?” I asked with weakening breath. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Thereon ahead I saw a door extend— | 10 | ˘/˘/····˘/ |
| The door to death. | 4 | ···· |
| It loomed more clear: | 4 | ···· |
| “At last!” I cried. “The all-delivering door!” | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| And then, I knew not how, it grew less near | 10 | ·········· |
| Than theretofore. | 5 | ····· |
| And back slid I | 4 | ···· |
| Along the galleries by which I came, | 9 | ˘/·/˘···· |
| And tediously the day returned, and sky, | 9 | ·/˘··˘/·· |
| And life—the same. | 4 | ···· |
| And all was well: | 4 | ···· |
| Old circumstance resumed its former show, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘· |
| And on my head the dews of comfort fell | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| As ere my woe. | 4 | ···· |
| I roam anew, | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Scarce conscious of my late distress . . . And yet | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Those backward steps through pain I cannot view | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Without regret. | 4 | ··˘/ |
| For that dire train | 4 | ···· |
| Of waxing shapes and waning, passed before, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And those grim aisles, must be traversed again | 10 | ······˘/˘/ |
| To reach that door. | 4 | ···· |
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