“I Need Not Go”
I NEED not goThrough sleet and snowTo where I knowShe waits for me;She will wait me thereTill I find it fair,And have time to spareFrom company.
When I’ve overgotThe world somewhat,When things cost notSuch stress and strain,Is soon enoughBy cypress soughTo tell my LoveI am come again.
And if some day,When none cries nay,I still delayTo seek her side,(Though ample measureOf fitting leisureAwait my pleasure)She will riot chide.
What—not upbraid meThat I delayed me,Nor ask what stayed meSo long? Ah, no!—New cares may claim me,New loves inflame me,She will not blame me,But suffer it so.
Words in this poem
- sleet n.
- The part of a mortar extending from the chamber to the trunnions.
- sough n.
- A small drain; an adit. W. M. Buchanan. [Etymol. uncertain.]
- await v. t.
- To watch for; to look out for. [OF. awaitier, agaitier; (L. ad) + waitier, gaitier to watch, F. guetter. See Wait.]
- upbraid n.
- The act of reproaching; contumely.
- stayed a.
- Staid; fixed; settled; sober; -- now written staid. See Staid.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
“I Need Not Go” 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, “I Need Not Go”, in Poems of the Past and the Present (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3168, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-past-and-present/i-need-not-go.html, id L16897.
Form and metre
“I Need Not Go” is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 4.5 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 47% 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 AAA-BBB- goA · snowA · knowA · me · thereB · fairB · spareB · company
- 2 ---ABB-A overgot · somewhat · not · strainA · enoughB · soughB · love · againA
- 3 AAABCCCB dayA · nayA · delayA · sideB · measureC · leisureC · pleasureC · chideB
- 4 AAABAAAB meA · meA · meA · noB · meA · meA · meA · soB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I NEED not go | 4 | ···· |
| Through sleet and snow | 4 | ···· |
| To where I know | 4 | ···· |
| She waits for me; | 4 | ···· |
| She will wait me there | 5 | ····· |
| Till I find it fair, | 5 | ····· |
| And have time to spare | 5 | ····· |
| From company. | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| When I’ve overgot | 5 | ····· |
| The world somewhat, | 4 | ··// |
| When things cost not | 4 | ···· |
| Such stress and strain, | 4 | ···· |
| Is soon enough | 4 | ··˘/ |
| By cypress sough | 4 | ·/˘· |
| To tell my Love | 4 | ···· |
| I am come again. | 5 | ···˘/ |
| And if some day, | 4 | ···· |
| When none cries nay, | 4 | ···· |
| I still delay | 4 | ··˘/ |
| To seek her side, | 4 | ···· |
| (Though ample measure | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Of fitting leisure | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Await my pleasure) | 5 | ˘/·/˘ |
| She will riot chide. | 4 | ··/· |
| What—not upbraid me | 5 | ··/·· |
| That I delayed me, | 5 | ··˘/· |
| Nor ask what stayed me | 5 | ····· |
| So long? Ah, no!— | 4 | ···· |
| New cares may claim me, | 5 | ····· |
| New loves inflame me, | 5 | ··˘/· |
| She will not blame me, | 5 | ····· |
| But suffer it so. | 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.