By Her Aunt’s Grave
“SIXPENCE a week,” says the girl to her lover,“Aunt used to bring me, for she could confideIn me alone, she vowed. ’Twas to coverThe cost of her headstone when she died.And that was a year ago last June;I’ve not yet fixed it. But I must soon.”
“And where is the money now, my dear?”“O, snug in my purse . . . Aunt was so slowIn saving it—eighty weeks, or near.” . . .“Let’s spend it,” he hints. “For she won’t know.There’s a dance to-night at the Load of Hay.”She passively nods. And they go that way.
Words in this poem
- headstone n.
- The principal stone in a foundation; the chief or corner stone.
- passively adv.
- In a passive manner; inertly; unresistingly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
By Her Aunt’s Grave 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, By Her Aunt’s Grave, in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2863, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-satires/by-her-aunt-s-grave.html, id L24021.
Form and metre
By Her Aunt’s Grave is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%).
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 ABABCC loverA · confideB · coverA · diedB · juneC · soonC
- 2 ABABCC dearA · slowB · nearA · knowB · hayC · wayC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “SIXPENCE a week,” says the girl to her lover, | 11 | /˘·······/˘ |
| “Aunt used to bring me, for she could confide | 10 | ········˘/ |
| In me alone, she vowed. ’Twas to cover | 10 | ··˘/····/˘ |
| The cost of her headstone when she died. | 9 | ····/···· |
| And that was a year ago last June; | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| I’ve not yet fixed it. But I must soon.” | 9 | ········· |
| “And where is the money now, my dear?” | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| “O, snug in my purse . . . Aunt was so slow | 9 | ········· |
| In saving it—eighty weeks, or near.” . . . | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| “Let’s spend it,” he hints. “For she won’t know. | 9 | ········· |
| There’s a dance to-night at the Load of Hay.” | 10 | ·········· |
| She passively nods. And they go that way. | 9 | ·/˘······ |
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.