On an Invitation to the United States II
For, wonning in these ancient lands,Enchased and lettered as a tomb,And scored with prints of perished hands,And chronicled with dates of doom,Though my own Being bear no bloomI trace the lives such scenes enshrine,Give past exemplars present room,And their experience count as mine.
Words in this poem
- lettered a.
- Literate; educated; versed in literature.
- enshrine v. t.
- To inclose in a shrine or chest; hence, to preserve or cherish as something sacred; as, to enshrine something in memory.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On an Invitation to the United States II 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, On an Invitation to the United States II, in Poems of the Past and the Present (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3168, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-past-and-present/on-an-invitation-to-the-united-states-ii.html, id L16869.
Form and metre
On an Invitation to the United States II is 8 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABBCBC. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABBCBC landsA · tombB · handsA · doomB · bloomB · enshrineC · roomB · mineC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| For, wonning in these ancient lands, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Enchased and lettered as a tomb, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And scored with prints of perished hands, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And chronicled with dates of doom, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Though my own Being bear no bloom | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I trace the lives such scenes enshrine, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Give past exemplars present room, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| And their experience count as mine. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
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.