The Well-Beloved
I wayed by star and planet shineTowards the dear one’s homeAt Kingsbere, there to make her mineWhen the next sun upclomb.
I edged the ancient hill and woodBeside the Ikling Way,Nigh where the Pagan temple stoodIn the world’s earlier day.
And as I quick and quicker walkedOn gravel and on green,I sang to sky, and tree, or talkedOf her I called my queen.
—“O faultless is her dainty form,And luminous her mind;She is the God-created normOf perfect womankind!”
A shape whereon one star-blink gleamedGlode softly by my side,A woman’s; and her motion seemedThe motion of my bride.
And yet methought she’d drawn erstwhileAdown the ancient leaze,Where once were pile and peristyleFor men’s idolatries.
—“O maiden lithe and lone, what mayThy name and lineage be,Who so resemblest by this rayMy darling?—Art thou she?”
The Shape: “Thy bride remains withinHer father’s grange and grove.”—“Thou speakest rightly,” I broke in,“Thou art not she I love.”
—“Nay: though thy bride remains insideHer father’s walls,” said she,“The one most dear is with thee here,For thou dost love but me.”
Then I: “But she, my only choice,Is now at Kingsbere Grove?”Again her soft mysterious voice:“I am thy only Love.”
Thus still she vouched, and still I said,“O sprite, that cannot be!” . . .It was as if my bosom bled,So much she troubled me.
The sprite resumed: “Thou hast transferredTo her dull form awhileMy beauty, fame, and deed, and word,My gestures and my smile.
“O fatuous man, this truth infer,Brides are not what they seem;Thou lovest what thou dreamest her;I am thy very dream!”
—“O then,” I answered miserably,Speaking as scarce I knew,“My loved one, I must wed with theeIf what thou say’st be true!”
She, proudly, thinning in the gloom:“Though, since troth-plight began,I’ve ever stood as bride to groom,I wed no mortal man!”
Thereat she vanished by the CrossThat, entering Kingsbere town,The two long lanes form, near the fosseBelow the faneless Down.
—When I arrived and met my bride,Her look was pinched and thin,As if her soul had shrunk and died,And left a waste within.
Words in this poem 22
- wayed a.
- Used to the way; broken.
- faultless a.
- Without fault; not defective or imperfect; free from blemish; free from incorrectness, vice, or offense; perfect; as, a faultless poem.
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
- womankind n.
- The females of the human race; women, collectively.
- whereon adv.
- On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
- erstwhile adv.
- Till then or now; heretofore; formerly.
- adown adv.
- From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dune off the hill. See Down.]
- lithe v. i.
- To listen or listen to; to hearken to. P. Plowman. [Icel Listen.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- grange n.
- A building for storing grain; a granary. [F. grange barn, LL. granea, from L. granum grain. See Grain a kernel.]
- rightly adv.
- Straightly; directly; in front. [AS. richtlice.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- sprite n.
- A spirit; a soul; a shade; also, an apparition. See Spright. [OE. sprit, F. esprit, fr. L. spiritus. See Spirit, and cf. Sprightly.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- fatuous a.
- Feeble in mind; weak; silly; stupid; foolish; fatuitous. Glanvill. [L. fatuus.]
- infer v. t.
- To bring on; to induce; to occasion. Harvey. [L. inferre to bring into, bring forward, occasion, infer; pref. in- in + ferre to carry, bring: cf. F. inférer. See 1 st Bear.]
- miserably adv.
- In a miserable; unhappily; calamitously; wretchedly; meanly.
- 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]
- troth n.
- Belief; faith; fidelity. [A variant of truth. See Truth.]
- thereat adv.
- At that place; there.
- fosse n.
- A ditch or moat. [F., fr. L. fossa, fr. fodere, fossum, to dig.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Well-Beloved 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 Well-Beloved, 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-well-beloved.html, id L16891.
Form and metre
The Well-Beloved is 68 lines in 17 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 10 of its 17 stanzas. The metre is common measure, 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 7.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 31% 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 A-A- shineA · home · mineA · upclomb
- 2 ABAB woodA · wayB · stoodA · dayB
- 3 ABAB walkedA · greenB · talkedA · queenB
- 4 ABAB formA · mindB · normA · womankindB
- 5 ABAB gleamedA · sideB · seemedA · brideB
- 6 A-A- erstwhileA · leaze · peristyleA · idolatries
- 7 ABAB mayA · beB · rayA · sheB
- 8 A-A- withinA · grove · inA · love
- 9 -A-A inside · sheA · here · meA
- 10 A-A- choiceA · grove · voiceA · love
- 11 ABAB saidA · beB · bledA · meB
- 12 ABAB transferredA · awhileB · wordA · smileB
- 13 ABAB inferA · seemB · herA · dreamB
- 14 -A-A miserably · knewA · thee · trueA
- 15 ABAB gloomA · beganB · groomA · manB
- 16 -A-A cross · townA · fosse · downA
- 17 ABAB brideA · thinB · diedA · withinB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I wayed by star and planet shine | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Towards the dear one’s home | 6 | ······ |
| At Kingsbere, there to make her mine | 8 | ········ |
| When the next sun upclomb. | 6 | ······ |
| I edged the ancient hill and wood | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Beside the Ikling Way, | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Nigh where the Pagan temple stood | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| In the world’s earlier day. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| And as I quick and quicker walked | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| On gravel and on green, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I sang to sky, and tree, or talked | 8 | ········ |
| Of her I called my queen. | 6 | ······ |
| —“O faultless is her dainty form, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And luminous her mind; | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| She is the God-created norm | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Of perfect womankind!” | 6 | ·/·/˘˘ |
| A shape whereon one star-blink gleamed | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Glode softly by my side, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| A woman’s; and her motion seemed | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The motion of my bride. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And yet methought she’d drawn erstwhile | 8 | ··˘/··/· |
| Adown the ancient leaze, | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| Where once were pile and peristyle | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For men’s idolatries. | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| —“O maiden lithe and lone, what may | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thy name and lineage be, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| Who so resemblest by this ray | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| My darling?—Art thou she?” | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The Shape: “Thy bride remains within | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Her father’s grange and grove.” | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| —“Thou speakest rightly,” I broke in, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| “Thou art not she I love.” | 6 | ······ |
| —“Nay: though thy bride remains inside | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| Her father’s walls,” said she, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| “The one most dear is with thee here, | 8 | ········ |
| For thou dost love but me.” | 6 | ······ |
| Then I: “But she, my only choice, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Is now at Kingsbere Grove?” | 6 | ······ |
| Again her soft mysterious voice: | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘· |
| “I am thy only Love.” | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Thus still she vouched, and still I said, | 8 | ········ |
| “O sprite, that cannot be!” . . . | 6 | ···/˘· |
| It was as if my bosom bled, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| So much she troubled me. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The sprite resumed: “Thou hast transferred | 8 | ··˘/··˘/ |
| To her dull form awhile | 6 | ····˘/ |
| My beauty, fame, and deed, and word, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| My gestures and my smile. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| “O fatuous man, this truth infer, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Brides are not what they seem; | 6 | ······ |
| Thou lovest what thou dreamest her; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I am thy very dream!” | 6 | ···/˘· |
| —“O then,” I answered miserably, | 9 | ···/˘/˘˘˘ |
| Speaking as scarce I knew, | 6 | /˘···· |
| “My loved one, I must wed with thee | 8 | ········ |
| If what thou say’st be true!” | 6 | ······ |
| She, proudly, thinning in the gloom: | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| “Though, since troth-plight began, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| I’ve ever stood as bride to groom, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I wed no mortal man!” | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Thereat she vanished by the Cross | 8 | ˘/·/˘··· |
| That, entering Kingsbere town, | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| The two long lanes form, near the fosse | 8 | ········ |
| Below the faneless Down. | 7 | ······· |
| —When I arrived and met my bride, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Her look was pinched and thin, | 6 | ······ |
| As if her soul had shrunk and died, | 8 | ········ |
| And left a waste within. | 6 | ······ |
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