Outside the Window
“MY stick!” he says, and turns in the laneTo the house just left, whence a vixen voiceComes out with the firelight through the pane,And he sees within that the girl of his choiceStands rating her mother with eyes aglareFor something said while he was there.
“At last I behold her soul undraped!”Thinks the man who had loved her more than himself;“My God—’tis but narrowly I have escaped.—My precious porcelain proves it delf.”His face has reddened like one ashamed,And he steals off, leaving his stick unclaimed.
Words in this poem
- pane n.
- The narrow edge of a hammer head. See Peen. [F. panne.]
- delf n.
- A mine; a quarry; a pit dug; a ditch. [AS. delf a delving, digging. See Delve.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Outside the Window 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, Outside the Window, in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2863, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-satires/outside-the-window.html, id L24025.
Form and metre
Outside the Window is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. 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 ABABCC laneA · voiceB · paneA · choiceB · aglareC · thereC
- 2 ABABCC undrapedA · himselfB · escapedA · delfB · ashamedC · unclaimedC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “MY stick!” he says, and turns in the lane | 9 | ········· |
| To the house just left, whence a vixen voice | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Comes out with the firelight through the pane, | 10 | ·········· |
| And he sees within that the girl of his choice | 11 | ··········· |
| Stands rating her mother with eyes aglare | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| For something said while he was there. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| “At last I behold her soul undraped!” | 9 | ···˘/···· |
| Thinks the man who had loved her more than himself; | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| “My God—’tis but narrowly I have escaped.— | 10 | ····/˘··˘/ |
| My precious porcelain proves it delf.” | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| His face has reddened like one ashamed, | 9 | ···/˘··˘/ |
| And he steals off, leaving his stick unclaimed. | 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.