In the Room of the Bride-Elect
“WOULD it had been the man of our wish!”Sighs her mother. To whom with vehemence sheIn the wedding-dress—the wife to be—“Then why were you so mollyishAs not to insist on him for me!”The mother, amazed: “Why, dearest one,Because you pleaded for this or none!”
“But Father and you should have stood out strong!Since then, to my cost, I have lived to findThat you were right and that I was wrong;This man is a dolt to the one declined . . .Ah!—here he comes with his button-hole rose.Good God—I must marry him I suppose!”
Words in this poem
- insist v. i.
- To stand or rest; to find support; -- with in, on, or upon. [F. insister, L. insistere to set foot upon, follow, persist; pref. in- in + sistere to stand, cause to stand. See Stand.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In the Room of the Bride-Elect 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 Room of the Bride-Elect, in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2863, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-satires/in-the-room-of-the-bride-elect.html, id L24022.
Form and metre
In the Room of the Bride-Elect 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 ABBABCC wishA · sheB · beB · mollyishA · meB · oneC · noneC
- 2 ABABCC strongA · findB · wrongA · declinedB · roseC · supposeC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “WOULD it had been the man of our wish!” | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Sighs her mother. To whom with vehemence she | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| In the wedding-dress—the wife to be— | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| “Then why were you so mollyish | 7 | ······· |
| As not to insist on him for me!” | 9 | ···˘/···· |
| The mother, amazed: “Why, dearest one, | 10 | ·/˘˘/˘·/˘· |
| Because you pleaded for this or none!” | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| “But Father and you should have stood out strong! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Since then, to my cost, I have lived to find | 10 | ·········· |
| That you were right and that I was wrong; | 9 | ········· |
| This man is a dolt to the one declined . . . | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Ah!—here he comes with his button-hole rose. | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Good God—I must marry him I suppose!” | 10 | ····/˘··˘/ |
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.