The Place on the Map
I LOOK upon the map that hangs by me—Its shires and towns and rivers lined in varnished artistry—And I mark a jutting heightColoured purple, with a margin of blue sea.
—’Twas a day of latter summer, hot and dry;Ay, even the waves seemed drying as we walked on, she and I,By this spot where, calmly quite,She informed me what would happen by and by.
This hanging map depicts the coast and place,And resuscitates therewith our unexpected troublous caseAll distinctly to my sight,And her tension, and the aspect of her face.
Weeks and weeks we had loved beneath that blazing blue,Which had lost the art of raining, as her eyes to-day had too,While she told what, as by sleight,Shot our firmament with rays of ruddy hue.
For the wonder and the wormwood of the wholeWas that what in realms of reason would have joyed our double soulWore a torrid tragic lightUnder order-keeping’s rigorous control.
So, the map revives her words, the spot, the time,And the thing we found we had to face before the next year’s prime;The charted coast stares bright,And its episode comes back in pantomime.
Words in this poem
- artistry n.
- Works of art collectively.
- jutting a.
- Projecting, as corbels, cornices, etc.
- coloured a.
- Having color; tinged; dyed; painted; stained.
- informed a.
- Unformed or ill-formed; deformed; shapeless.
- therewith adv.
- With that or this.
- troublous a.
- Full of trouble; causing trouble.
- sleight n.
- Cunning; craft; artful practice. [OE. sleighte, sleihte, sleithe, Icel. sl (for sl) slyness, cunning, fr. sl (for sl) sly, cunning. See Sly.]
- firmament n.
- Fixed foundation; established basis. [L. firmamentum, fr. firmare to make firm: cf. F. firmament. See Firm, v. & a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Place on the Map 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 Place on the Map, in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2863, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-satires/the-place-on-the-map.html, id L24013.
Form and metre
The Place on the Map is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
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 A-BA meA · artistry · heightB · seaA
- 2 CCBC dryC · iC · quiteB · byC
- 3 DDBD placeD · caseD · sightB · faceD
- 4 EEBE blueE · tooE · sleightB · hueE
- 5 FFBF wholeF · soulF · lightB · controlF
- 6 GGBG timeG · primeG · brightB · pantomimeG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I LOOK upon the map that hangs by me— | 10 | ·········· |
| Its shires and towns and rivers lined in varnished artistry— | 13 | ·····/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And I mark a jutting height | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Coloured purple, with a margin of blue sea. | 11 | /˘/˘··/˘··· |
| —’Twas a day of latter summer, hot and dry; | 11 | ····/˘/˘··· |
| Ay, even the waves seemed drying as we walked on, she and I, | 14 | ·/···/˘······· |
| By this spot where, calmly quite, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| She informed me what would happen by and by. | 11 | ·˘/···/˘··· |
| This hanging map depicts the coast and place, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| And resuscitates therewith our unexpected troublous case | 15 | ·˘/˘·˘//·˘/˘/˘· |
| All distinctly to my sight, | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| And her tension, and the aspect of her face. | 11 | ··/˘··/···· |
| Weeks and weeks we had loved beneath that blazing blue, | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| Which had lost the art of raining, as her eyes to-day had too, | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| While she told what, as by sleight, | 7 | ······· |
| Shot our firmament with rays of ruddy hue. | 11 | ·//˘˘···/˘· |
| For the wonder and the wormwood of the whole | 11 | ··/˘··/···· |
| Was that what in realms of reason would have joyed our double soul | 15 | ······/˘···//˘· |
| Wore a torrid tragic light | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Under order-keeping’s rigorous control. | 10 | ··/˘/˘/˘˘/ |
| So, the map revives her words, the spot, the time, | 11 | ···˘/······ |
| And the thing we found we had to face before the next year’s prime; | 15 | ··············· |
| The charted coast stares bright, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And its episode comes back in pantomime. | 11 | ··/˘····/˘· |
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.