A Plaint to Man
WHEN you slowly emerged from the den of Time,And gained percipience as you grew,And fleshed you fair out of shapeless slime,
Wherefore, O Man, did there come to youThe unhappy need of creating me—A form like your own—for praying to?
My virtue, power, utility,Within my maker must all abide,Since none in myself can ever be,
One thin as a shape on a lantern-slideShown forth in the dark upon some dim sheet,And by none but its showman vivified.
“Such a forced device,” you may say, “is meetFor easing a loaded heart at whiles:Man needs to conceive of a mercy-seat
Somewhere above the gloomy aislesOf this wailful world, or he could not bearThe irk no local hope beguiles.”
—But since I was framed in your first despairThe doing without me has had no playIn the minds of men when shadows scare;
And now that I dwindle day by dayBeneath the deicide eyes of seersIn a light that will not let me stay,
And to-morrow the whole of me disappears,The truth should be told, and the fact be facedThat had best been faced in earlier years:
The fact of life with dependence placedOn the human heart’s resource alone,In brotherhood bonded close and graced
With loving-kindness fully blown,And visioned help unsought, unknown.
Words in this poem
- percipience n.
- The faculty, act or power of perceiving; perception. Mrs.
- fleshed a.
- Corpulent; fat; having flesh.
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- showman n.
- One who exhibits a show; a proprietor of a show.
- whiles conj.
- During the time that; while. Chaucer. Fuller.
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
- wailful a.
- Sorrowful; mournful.
- scare v. t.
- To frighten; to strike with sudden fear; to alarm. [OE. skerren, skeren, Icel. skirra to bar, prevent, skirrask to shun , shrink from; or fr. OE. skerre, adj., scared, Icel. skjarr; both perhaps akin to E. sheer ]
- dwindle v. i.
- To diminish; to become less; to shrink; to waste or consume away; to become degenerate; to fall away. [From OE. dwinen to languish, waste away, AS. dwinan; akin to LG. dwinen, D. dwijnen to vanish, Icel. dvina to cease, dwindle, Sw. tvina; of uncertain origin. Th]
- deicide n.
- The act of killing a being of a divine nature; particularly, the putting to death of Jesus Christ. [L. deicida a deicide (in sense 2); deus god + cædere to cut, kill: cf. F. déicide.]
- resource n.
- That to which one resorts orr on which one depends for supply or support; means of overcoming a difficulty; resort; expedient. [F. ressource, fr. OF. ressourdre, resourdre, to spring forth or up again; pref. re- re- + sourdre to spring forth. See Source.]
- graced a.
- Endowed with grace; beautiful; full of graces; honorable.
- visioned a.
- Having the power of seeing visions; inspired; also, seen in visions. Shelley.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Plaint to Man is in the public domain. This text is taken from Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries, with Miscellaneous Pieces, Project Gutenberg ebook #2863; 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, A Plaint to Man, in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2863, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-satires/a-plaint-to-man.html, id L24015.
Form and metre
A Plaint to Man is 32 lines in 11 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%).
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 ABA timeA · grewB · slimeA
- 2 BCB youB · meC · toB
- 3 -DC utility · abideD · beC
- 4 DED slideD · sheetE · vivifiedD
- 5 EFE meetE · whilesF · seatE
- 6 FGF aislesF · bearG · beguilesF
- 7 GHG despairG · playH · scareG
- 8 HIH dayH · seersI · stayH
- 9 IJI disappearsI · facedJ · yearsI
- 10 JKJ placedJ · aloneK · gracedJ
- 11 KK blownK · unknownK
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 |
|---|---|---|
| WHEN you slowly emerged from the den of Time, | 11 | ··/˘/˘····· |
| And gained percipience as you grew, | 8 | ········ |
| And fleshed you fair out of shapeless slime, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Wherefore, O Man, did there come to you | 9 | /˘······· |
| The unhappy need of creating me— | 10 | ·˘/˘··˘/˘· |
| A form like your own—for praying to? | 9 | ······/˘· |
| My virtue, power, utility, | 9 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Within my maker must all abide, | 9 | ···/˘··˘/ |
| Since none in myself can ever be, | 8 | ····/·/· |
| One thin as a shape on a lantern-slide | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Shown forth in the dark upon some dim sheet, | 10 | ·········· |
| And by none but its showman vivified. | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| “Such a forced device,” you may say, “is meet | 10 | ···˘/····· |
| For easing a loaded heart at whiles: | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| Man needs to conceive of a mercy-seat | 10 | ···˘/··/˘· |
| Somewhere above the gloomy aisles | 8 | /····/˘· |
| Of this wailful world, or he could not bear | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| The irk no local hope beguiles.” | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| —But since I was framed in your first despair | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The doing without me has had no play | 9 | ·/······· |
| In the minds of men when shadows scare; | 9 | ······/·· |
| And now that I dwindle day by day | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Beneath the deicide eyes of seers | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| In a light that will not let me stay, | 9 | ········· |
| And to-morrow the whole of me disappears, | 11 | ··/˘·····˘/ |
| The truth should be told, and the fact be faced | 10 | ·········· |
| That had best been faced in earlier years: | 9 | ······/˘· |
| The fact of life with dependence placed | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| On the human heart’s resource alone, | 9 | ··/˘·/˘˘/ |
| In brotherhood bonded close and graced | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| With loving-kindness fully blown, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| And visioned help unsought, unknown. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
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