In Church
“AND now to God the Father,” he ends,And his voice thrills up to the topmost tiles:Each listener chokes as he bows and bends,And emotion pervades the crowded aisles.Then the preacher glides to the vestry-door,And shuts it, and thinks he is seen no more.
The door swings softly ajar meanwhile,And a pupil of his in the Bible class,Who adores him as one without gloss or guile,Sees her idol stand with a satisfied smileAnd re-enact at the vestry-glassEach pulpit gesture in deft dumb-showThat had moved the congregation so.
Words in this poem
- ajar adv.
- Slightly turned or opened; as, the door was standing ajar. [OE. on char ajar, on the turn; AS. cerr, cyrr, turn, akin to G. kehren to turn, and to D. akerre. See Char.]
- meanwhile n.
- The intervening time; as, in the meantime (or mean time).
- idol n.
- An image or representation of anything. [OE. idole, F. idole, L. idolum, fr. Gr. Wit, and cf. Eidolon.]
- deft a.
- Apt; fit; dexterous; clever; handy; spruce; neat. [OE. daft, deft, becoming, mild, gentle, stupid (cf. OE. daffe, deffe, fool, coward), AS. dæft (in derivatives only) mild, gentle, fitting, seasonable; akin to d]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In Church 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, In Church, in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2863, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-satires/in-church.html, id L24020.
Form and metre
In Church is 13 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%).
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 endsA · tilesB · bendsA · aislesB · doorC · moreC
- 2 ABAABCC meanwhileA · classB · guileA · smileA · glassB · showC · soC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “AND now to God the Father,” he ends, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| And his voice thrills up to the topmost tiles: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Each listener chokes as he bows and bends, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| And emotion pervades the crowded aisles. | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/·/˘· |
| Then the preacher glides to the vestry-door, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| And shuts it, and thinks he is seen no more. | 10 | ·········· |
| The door swings softly ajar meanwhile, | 9 | ···/˘˘//· |
| And a pupil of his in the Bible class, | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
| Who adores him as one without gloss or guile, | 11 | ·˘/········ |
| Sees her idol stand with a satisfied smile | 11 | ··/˘···/˘·· |
| And re-enact at the vestry-glass | 9 | ··˘/··/˘· |
| Each pulpit gesture in deft dumb-show | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| That had moved the congregation so. | 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.