The Bedridden Peasant to an Unknowing God
MUCH wonder I—here long low-laid—That this dead wall should beBetwixt the Maker and the made,Between Thyself and me!
For, say one puts a child to nurse,He eyes it now and thenTo know if better ’tis, or worse,And if it mourn, and when.
But Thou, Lord, giv’st us men our clayIn helpless bondage thusTo Time and Chance, and seem’st straightwayTo think no more of us!
That some disaster cleft Thy schemeAnd tore us wide apart,So that no cry can cross, I deem;For Thou art mild of heart,
And would’st not shape and shut us inWhere voice can not he heard:’Tis plain Thou meant’st that we should winThy succour by a word.
Might but Thy sense flash down the skiesLike man’s from clime to clime,Thou would’st not let me agonizeThrough my remaining time;
But, seeing how much Thy creatures bear—Lame, starved, or maimed, or blind—Thou’dst heal the ills with quickest careOf me and all my kind.
Then, since Thou mak’st not these things be,But these things dost not know,I’ll praise Thee as were shown to meThe mercies Thou would’st show!
Words in this poem
- betwixt prep.
- In the space which separates; between. [OE. betwix, bitwix, rarely bitwixt, AS. betweox, betweohs, betweoh, betwih; pref. be- by + a form fr. AS. twa two. See Between.]
- straightway adv.
- Immediately; without loss of time; without delay.
- disaster n.
- An unpropitious or baleful aspect of a planet or star; malevolent influence of a heavenly body; hence, an ill portent. [F. désastre; pref. dés- (L. dis-) + astre star, fr. L. astrum; a word of astrological origin. See Aster, Astral, Star.]
- tore n.
- The dead grass that remains on mowing land in winter and spring. Mortimer. [Probably from the root of tear; cf. W. tór a break, cut, tóri to break, cut.]
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
- succour v. t.
- tiono run to, or run to support; hence, to help or relieve when in difficulty, want, or distress; to assist and deliver from suffering; to relieve; as, to succor a besieged city. [OE. socouren, OF. sucurre, soucourre, secorre, F. secourir, L. succurrere, succursum, to run under, run to the aid of, help, succor; sub under + currere to run.]
- clime n.
- A climate; a tract or region of the earth. See Climate. [L. clima. See Climate.]
- agonize v. i.
- To writhe with agony; to suffer violent anguish. [F. agoniser, LL. agonizare, fr. Gr. Agony.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Bedridden Peasant to an Unknowing God 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, The Bedridden Peasant to an Unknowing God, in Poems of the Past and the Present (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3168, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-past-and-present/the-bedridden-peasant-to-an-unknowing-god.html, id L16882.
Form and metre
The Bedridden Peasant to an Unknowing God is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 laidA · beB · madeA · meB
- 2 ABAB nurseA · thenB · worseA · whenB
- 3 ABAB clayA · thusB · straightwayA · usB
- 4 ABAB schemeA · apartB · deemA · heartB
- 5 ABAB inA · heardB · winA · wordB
- 6 ABAB skiesA · climeB · agonizeA · timeB
- 7 ABAB bearA · blindB · careA · kindB
- 8 ABAB beA · knowB · meA · showB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| MUCH wonder I—here long low-laid— | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That this dead wall should be | 6 | ······ |
| Betwixt the Maker and the made, | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| Between Thyself and me! | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| For, say one puts a child to nurse, | 8 | ········ |
| He eyes it now and then | 6 | ······ |
| To know if better ’tis, or worse, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And if it mourn, and when. | 6 | ······ |
| But Thou, Lord, giv’st us men our clay | 8 | ······/· |
| In helpless bondage thus | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| To Time and Chance, and seem’st straightway | 8 | ······/˘ |
| To think no more of us! | 6 | ······ |
| That some disaster cleft Thy scheme | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| And tore us wide apart, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| So that no cry can cross, I deem; | 8 | ········ |
| For Thou art mild of heart, | 6 | ······ |
| And would’st not shape and shut us in | 8 | ········ |
| Where voice can not he heard: | 6 | ······ |
| ’Tis plain Thou meant’st that we should win | 8 | ········ |
| Thy succour by a word. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Might but Thy sense flash down the skies | 8 | ········ |
| Like man’s from clime to clime, | 6 | ······ |
| Thou would’st not let me agonize | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Through my remaining time; | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| But, seeing how much Thy creatures bear— | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Lame, starved, or maimed, or blind— | 8 | ··˘··˘·· |
| Thou’dst heal the ills with quickest care | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of me and all my kind. | 6 | ······ |
| Then, since Thou mak’st not these things be, | 8 | ········ |
| But these things dost not know, | 6 | ······ |
| I’ll praise Thee as were shown to me | 8 | ········ |
| The mercies Thou would’st show! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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