On the Death-Bed
“I’LL tell—being past all praying for—Then promptly die . . . He was out at the war,And got some scent of the intimacyThat was under way between her and me;And he stole back home, and appeared like a ghostOne night, at the very time almostThat I reached her house. Well, I shot him dead,And secretly buried him. Nothing was said.
“The news of the battle came next day;He was scheduled missing. I hurried away,Got out there, visited the field,And sent home word that a search revealedHe was one of the slain; though, lying aloneAnd stript, his body had not been known.
“But she suspected. I lost her love,Yea, my hope of earth, and of Heaven above;And my time’s now come, and I’ll pay the score,Though it be burning for evermore.”
Words in this poem
- promptly adv.
- In a prompt manner.
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- ghost n.
- The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Death-Bed 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, On the Death-Bed, in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2863, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-satires/on-the-death-bed.html, id L24031.
Form and metre
On the Death-Bed is 18 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 89% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 72%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AA--BBCC forA · warA · intimacy · me · ghostB · almostB · deadC · saidC
- 2 AABBCC dayA · awayA · fieldB · revealedB · aloneC · knownC
- 3 AABB loveA · aboveA · scoreB · evermoreB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “I’LL tell—being past all praying for— | 8 | ··/··/˘· |
| Then promptly die . . . He was out at the war, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And got some scent of the intimacy | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| That was under way between her and me; | 10 | ·········· |
| And he stole back home, and appeared like a ghost | 11 | ······˘/··· |
| One night, at the very time almost | 9 | ····/˘·/· |
| That I reached her house. Well, I shot him dead, | 10 | ·········· |
| And secretly buried him. Nothing was said. | 10 | ·/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| “The news of the battle came next day; | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| He was scheduled missing. I hurried away, | 11 | ··/˘/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Got out there, visited the field, | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| And sent home word that a search revealed | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| He was one of the slain; though, lying alone | 11 | ·······/˘˘/ |
| And stript, his body had not been known. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| “But she suspected. I lost her love, | 9 | ··˘/˘···· |
| Yea, my hope of earth, and of Heaven above; | 10 | ·······/·· |
| And my time’s now come, and I’ll pay the score, | 10 | ·········· |
| Though it be burning for evermore.” | 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.