The Death of Regret
I OPENED my shutter at sunrise,And looked at the hill hard by,And I heartily grieved for the comradeWho wandered up there to die.
I let in the morn on the morrow,And failed not to think of him then,As he trod up that rise in the twilight,And never came down again.
I undid the shutter a week thence,But not until after I’d turnedDid I call back his last departureBy the upland there discerned.
Uncovering the casement long later,I bent to my toil till the gray,When I said to myself, “Ah—what ails me,To forget him all the day!”
As daily I flung back the shutterIn the same blank bald routine,He scarcely once rose to remembranceThrough a month of my facing the scene.
And ah, seldom now do I ponderAt the window as heretoforeOn the long valued one who died yonder,And wastes by the sycamore.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- departure n.
- Division; separation; putting away. [From Depart.]
- casement n.
- A window sash opening on hinges affixed to the upright side of the frame into which it is fitted. (Poetically) A window. [Shortened fr. encasement. See Incase 1st Case, and cf. Incasement.]
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Death of Regret 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, The Death of Regret, in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2863, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-satires/the-death-of-regret.html, id L24090.
Form and metre
The Death of Regret is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is anapaestic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other poems in anapaestic 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 -A-A sunrise · byA · comrade · dieA
- 2 -A-A morrow · thenA · twilight · againA
- 3 -A-A thence · turnedA · departure · discernedA
- 4 -A-A later · grayA · me · dayA
- 5 -A-A shutter · routineA · remembrance · sceneA
- 6 ABAB ponderA · heretoforeB · yonderA · sycamoreB
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 anapaestic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I OPENED my shutter at sunrise, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘·/· |
| And looked at the hill hard by, | 7 | ······· |
| And I heartily grieved for the comrade | 9 | ··/˘···/· |
| Who wandered up there to die. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| I let in the morn on the morrow, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And failed not to think of him then, | 8 | ········ |
| As he trod up that rise in the twilight, | 10 | ········/· |
| And never came down again. | 7 | ·/˘··˘/ |
| I undid the shutter a week thence, | 9 | ·˘/·/˘··· |
| But not until after I’d turned | 8 | ········ |
| Did I call back his last departure | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| By the upland there discerned. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Uncovering the casement long later, | 9 | ˘/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| I bent to my toil till the gray, | 8 | ········ |
| When I said to myself, “Ah—what ails me, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| To forget him all the day!” | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| As daily I flung back the shutter | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| In the same blank bald routine, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| He scarcely once rose to remembrance | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| Through a month of my facing the scene. | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| And ah, seldom now do I ponder | 9 | ··/˘···/˘ |
| At the window as heretofore | 8 | ··/˘··˘/ |
| On the long valued one who died yonder, | 10 | ···/˘···/˘ |
| And wastes by the sycamore. | 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.