In the Cemetery
“YOU see those mothers squabbling there?”Remarks the man of the cemetery.One says in tears, ‘’Tis mine lies here!’Another, ‘Nay, mine, you Pharisee!’Another, ‘How dare you move my flowersAnd put your own on this grave of ours!’But all their children were laid thereinAt different times, like sprats in a tin.
“And then the main drain had to cross,And we moved the lot some nights ago,And packed them away in the general fossWith hundreds more. But their folks don’t know,And as well cry over a new-laid drainAs anything else, to ease your pain!”
Words in this poem
- cemetery n.
- A place or ground set apart for the burial of the dead; a graveyard; a churchyard; a necropolis.
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In the Cemetery 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 the Cemetery, in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2863, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-satires/in-the-cemetery.html, id L24024.
Form and metre
In the Cemetery is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%).
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-BBCC thereA · cemetery · hereA · pharisee · flowersB · oursB · thereinC · tinC
- 2 -A-ABB cross · agoA · foss · knowA · drainB · painB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “YOU see those mothers squabbling there?” | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Remarks the man of the cemetery. | 10 | ˘/····/˘·˘ |
| One says in tears, ‘’Tis mine lies here!’ | 8 | ········ |
| Another, ‘Nay, mine, you Pharisee!’ | 9 | ˘/˘···/˘˘ |
| Another, ‘How dare you move my flowers | 9 | ˘/˘·····/ |
| And put your own on this grave of ours!’ | 9 | ········/ |
| But all their children were laid therein | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| At different times, like sprats in a tin. | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| “And then the main drain had to cross, | 8 | ········ |
| And we moved the lot some nights ago, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| And packed them away in the general foss | 10 | ···˘/··/˘· |
| With hundreds more. But their folks don’t know, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| And as well cry over a new-laid drain | 9 | ········· |
| As anything else, to ease your pain!” | 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.