“My Spirit Will Not Haunt the Mound”
MY spirit will not haunt the moundAbove my breast,But travel, memory-possessed,To where my tremulous being foundLife largest, best.
My phantom-footed shape will goWhen nightfall graysHither and thither along the waysI and another used to knowIn backward days.
And there you’ll find me, if a jotYou still should careFor me, and for my curious air;If otherwise, then I shall not,For you, be there.
Words in this poem
- nightfall n.
- The close of the day.
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
“My Spirit Will Not Haunt the Mound” 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, “My Spirit Will Not Haunt the Mound”, in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2863, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-satires/my-spirit-will-not-haunt-the-mound.html, id L24010.
Form and metre
“My Spirit Will Not Haunt the Mound” is 15 lines in 3 stanzas of 5 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 ABBAB moundA · breastB · possessedB · foundA · bestB
- 2 ABBAB goA · graysB · waysB · knowA · daysB
- 3 ABBAB jotA · careB · airB · notA · thereB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| MY spirit will not haunt the mound | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Above my breast, | 4 | ···· |
| But travel, memory-possessed, | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| To where my tremulous being found | 8 | ···/˘˘/· |
| Life largest, best. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| My phantom-footed shape will go | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| When nightfall grays | 4 | ·/·· |
| Hither and thither along the ways | 9 | /˘·/˘˘/·· |
| I and another used to know | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| In backward days. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And there you’ll find me, if a jot | 8 | ········ |
| You still should care | 4 | ···· |
| For me, and for my curious air; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| If otherwise, then I shall not, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| For you, be there. | 4 | ···· |
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.