Lost Love
I PLAY my sweet old airs—The airs he knewWhen our love was true—But he does not balkHis determined walk,And passes up the stairs.
I sing my songs once more,And presently hearHis footstep nearAs if it would stay;But he goes his way,And shuts a distant door.
So I wait for another mornAnd another nightIn this soul-sick blight;And I wonder muchAs I sit, why suchA woman as I was born!
Words in this poem
- presently adv.
- At present; at this time; now.
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lost Love 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, Lost Love, in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2863, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-satires/lost-love.html, id L24009.
Form and metre
Lost Love is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBCCA. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABBCCA airsA · knewB · trueB · balkC · walkC · stairsA
- 2 ABBCCA moreA · hearB · nearB · stayC · wayC · doorA
- 3 ABBCCA mornA · nightB · blightB · muchC · suchC · bornA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I PLAY my sweet old airs— | 6 | ······ |
| The airs he knew | 4 | ···· |
| When our love was true— | 5 | ·/··· |
| But he does not balk | 5 | ····· |
| His determined walk, | 5 | ·˘/˘· |
| And passes up the stairs. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I sing my songs once more, | 6 | ······ |
| And presently hear | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| His footstep near | 4 | ·/·· |
| As if it would stay; | 5 | ····· |
| But he goes his way, | 5 | ····· |
| And shuts a distant door. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| So I wait for another morn | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| And another night | 5 | ·˘/˘· |
| In this soul-sick blight; | 5 | ····· |
| And I wonder much | 5 | ··/˘· |
| As I sit, why such | 5 | ····· |
| A woman as I was born! | 7 | ·/˘···· |
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.