Starlings on the Roof
“NO smoke spreads out of this chimney-pot,The people who lived here have left the spot,And others are coming who knew them not.
“If you listen anon, with an ear intent,The voices, you’ll find, will be differentFrom the well-known ones of those who went.”
“Why did they go? Their tones so blandWere quite familiar to our band;The comers we shall not understand.”
“They look for a new life, rich and strange;They do not know that, let them rangeWherever they may, they will get no change.
“They will drag their house-gear ever so farIn their search for a home no miseries mar;They will find that as they were they are,
“That every hearth has a ghost, alack,And can be but the scene of a bivouacTill they move perforce—no time to pack!”
Words in this poem
- anon adv.
- Straightway; at once. [OE. anoon, anon, anan, lit., in one (moment), fr. AS. on in + an one. See On and One.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- 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,]
- wherever adv.
- At or in whatever place; wheresoever.
- 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.]
- alack interj.
- An exclamation expressive of sorrow. [Prob. from ah! lack! OE. lak loss, failure, misfortune. See Lack.]
- perforce v. t.
- To force; to compel.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Starlings on the Roof 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, Starlings on the Roof, in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2863, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-satires/starlings-on-the-roof.html, id L24083.
Form and metre
Starlings on the Roof is 18 lines in 6 stanzas of 3 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AAA potA · spotA · notA
- 2 AAA intentA · differentA · wentA
- 3 AAA blandA · bandA · understandA
- 4 AAA strangeA · rangeA · changeA
- 5 AAA farA · marA · areA
- 6 AAA alackA · bivouacA · packA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| “NO smoke spreads out of this chimney-pot, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| The people who lived here have left the spot, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And others are coming who knew them not. | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| “If you listen anon, with an ear intent, | 11 | ··/˘˘/···˘/ |
| The voices, you’ll find, will be different | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| From the well-known ones of those who went.” | 9 | ········· |
| “Why did they go? Their tones so bland | 8 | ········ |
| Were quite familiar to our band; | 8 | ··˘/˘·/· |
| The comers we shall not understand.” | 9 | ·/˘····˘/ |
| “They look for a new life, rich and strange; | 9 | ········· |
| They do not know that, let them range | 8 | ········ |
| Wherever they may, they will get no change. | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| “They will drag their house-gear ever so far | 9 | ······/·· |
| In their search for a home no miseries mar; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| They will find that as they were they are, | 9 | ········· |
| “That every hearth has a ghost, alack, | 9 | ·/˘····˘/ |
| And can be but the scene of a bivouac | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Till they move perforce—no time to pack!” | 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.