At the Draper’s
“I STOOD at the back of the shop, my dear,But you did not perceive me.Well, when they deliver what you were shownI shall know nothing of it, believe me!”
And he coughed and coughed as she paled and said,“O, I didn’t see you come in there—Why couldn’t you speak?”—“Well, I didn’t. I leftThat you should not notice I’d been there.
“You were viewing some lovely things. ‘Soon requiredFor a widow, of latest fashion’;And I knew ’twould upset you to meet the manWho had to be cold and ashen
“And screwed in a box before they could dress you‘In the last new note in mourning,’As they defined it. So, not to distress you,I left you to your adorning.”
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- ashen a.
- Of or pertaining to the ash tree. [See Ash, the tree.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
At the Draper’s 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, At the Draper’s, in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2863, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-satires/at-the-draper-s.html, id L24030.
Form and metre
At the Draper’s is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 72%).
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 -A-A dear · meA · shown · meA
- 2 -A-A said · thereA · left · thereA
- 3 -AAA required · fashionA · manA · ashenA
- 4 ABAB youA · mourningB · youA · adorningB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “I STOOD at the back of the shop, my dear, | 10 | ·········· |
| But you did not perceive me. | 7 | ····˘/· |
| Well, when they deliver what you were shown | 10 | ···˘/˘···· |
| I shall know nothing of it, believe me!” | 10 | ···/˘··˘/· |
| And he coughed and coughed as she paled and said, | 10 | ·········· |
| “O, I didn’t see you come in there— | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Why couldn’t you speak?”—“Well, I didn’t. I left | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| That you should not notice I’d been there. | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| “You were viewing some lovely things. ‘Soon required | 11 | ··/˘·/˘··˘/ |
| For a widow, of latest fashion’; | 9 | ··/˘·/˘/˘ |
| And I knew ’twould upset you to meet the man | 11 | ····˘/····· |
| Who had to be cold and ashen | 8 | ······/˘ |
| “And screwed in a box before they could dress you | 11 | ··········· |
| ‘In the last new note in mourning,’ | 8 | ······/˘ |
| As they defined it. So, not to distress you, | 11 | ··˘/····˘/· |
| I left you to your adorning.” | 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.