The King’s Experiment
IT was a wet wan hour in spring,And Nature met King Doom beside a lane,Wherein Hodge trudged, all blithely balladingThe Mother’s smiling reign.
“Why warbles he that skies are fairAnd coombs alight,” she cried, “and fallows gay,When I have placed no sunshine in the airOr glow on earth to-day?”
“’Tis in the comedy of thingsThat such should be,” returned the one of Doom;“Charge now the scene with brightest blazonings,And he shall call them gloom.”
She gave the word: the sun outbroke,All Froomside shone, the hedgebirds raised a song;And later Hodge, upon the midday stroke,Returned the lane along,
Low murmuring: “O this bitter scene,And thrice accurst horizon hung with gloom!How deadly like this sky, these fields, these treen,To trappings of the tomb!”
The Beldame then: “The fool and blind!Such mad perverseness who may apprehend?”—“Nay; there’s no madness in it; thou shalt findThy law there,” said her friend.
“When Hodge went forth ’twas to his Love,To make her, ere this eve, his wedded prize,And Earth, despite the heaviness above,Was bright as Paradise.
“But I sent on my messenger,With cunning arrows poisonous and keen,To take forthwith her laughing life from her,And dull her little een,
“And white her cheek, and still her breath,Ere her too buoyant Hodge had reached her side;So, when he came, he clasped her but in death,And never as his bride.
“And there’s the humour, as I said;Thy dreary dawn he saw as gleaming gold,And in thy glistening green and radiant redFunereal gloom and cold.”
Words in this poem
- blithely adv.
- In a blithe manner.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- accurst p. p.
- Doomed to destruction or misery; cursed; hence, bad enough to be under the curse; execrable; detestable; exceedingly hateful; -- as, an accursed deed.
- treen a.
- Made of wood; wooden. [AS. treówen.]
- beldame n.
- Grandmother; -- corresponding to belsire. [Pref. bel-, denoting relationship + dame mother: cf. F. belledame fair lady, It. belladonna. See Belle, and Dame.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- wedded a.
- Joined in wedlock; married.
- heaviness n.
- The state or quality of being heavy in its various senses; weight; sadness; sluggishness; oppression; thickness.
- forthwith adv.
- Immediately; without delay; directly.
- humour n.
- Moisture, especially, the moisture or fluid of animal bodies, as the chyle, lymph, etc.; as, the humors of the eye, etc. [OE. humour, OF. humor, umor, F. humeur, L. humor, umor, moisture, fluid, fr. humere, umere, to be moist. See Humid.]
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The King’s Experiment 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 King’s Experiment, 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-king-s-experiment.html, id L16932.
Form and metre
The King’s Experiment is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 8 of its 10 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.5 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 15% 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 springA · laneB · balladingA · reignB
- 2 ABAB fairA · gayB · airA · dayB
- 3 ABAB thingsA · doomB · blazoningsA · gloomB
- 4 ABAB outbrokeA · songB · strokeA · alongB
- 5 ABAB sceneA · gloomB · treenA · tombB
- 6 ABAB blindA · apprehendB · findA · friendB
- 7 A-A- loveA · prize · aboveA · paradise
- 8 -A-A messenger · keenA · her · eenA
- 9 ABAB breathA · sideB · deathA · brideB
- 10 ABAB saidA · goldB · redA · coldB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| IT was a wet wan hour in spring, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| And Nature met King Doom beside a lane, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| Wherein Hodge trudged, all blithely ballading | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| The Mother’s smiling reign. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| “Why warbles he that skies are fair | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And coombs alight,” she cried, “and fallows gay, | 10 | ··˘/···/·· |
| When I have placed no sunshine in the air | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Or glow on earth to-day?” | 6 | ······ |
| “’Tis in the comedy of things | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| That such should be,” returned the one of Doom; | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| “Charge now the scene with brightest blazonings, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And he shall call them gloom.” | 6 | ······ |
| She gave the word: the sun outbroke, | 8 | ········ |
| All Froomside shone, the hedgebirds raised a song; | 11 | ··········· |
| And later Hodge, upon the midday stroke, | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| Returned the lane along, | 7 | ˘/˘··˘/ |
| Low murmuring: “O this bitter scene, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And thrice accurst horizon hung with gloom! | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| How deadly like this sky, these fields, these treen, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| To trappings of the tomb!” | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The Beldame then: “The fool and blind! | 8 | ········ |
| Such mad perverseness who may apprehend?”— | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| “Nay; there’s no madness in it; thou shalt find | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thy law there,” said her friend. | 6 | ······ |
| “When Hodge went forth ’twas to his Love, | 8 | ········ |
| To make her, ere this eve, his wedded prize, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And Earth, despite the heaviness above, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘˘·· |
| Was bright as Paradise. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| “But I sent on my messenger, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| With cunning arrows poisonous and keen, | 9 | ·/˘/˘/˘·· |
| To take forthwith her laughing life from her, | 10 | ··//·/˘··· |
| And dull her little een, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| “And white her cheek, and still her breath, | 8 | ········ |
| Ere her too buoyant Hodge had reached her side; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| So, when he came, he clasped her but in death, | 10 | ·········· |
| And never as his bride. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| “And there’s the humour, as I said; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thy dreary dawn he saw as gleaming gold, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| And in thy glistening green and radiant red | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Funereal gloom and cold.” | 7 | ˘/˘˘··· |
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