The Two Soldiers
JUST at the corner of the wallWe met—yes, he and I—Who had not faced in camp or hallSince we bade home good-bye,And what once happened came back—all—Out of those years gone by.
And that strange woman whom we knewAnd loved—long dead and gone,Whose poor half-perished residue,Tombless and trod, lay yon!But at this moment to our viewRose like a phantom wan.
And in his fixed face I could see,Lit by a lurid shine,The drama re-enact which sheHad dyed incarnadineFor us, and more. And doubtless heBeheld it too in mine.
A start, as at one slightly known,And with an indifferent airWe passed, without a sign being shownThat, as it real were,A memory-acted scene had thrownIts tragic shadow there.
Words in this poem
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- tombless a.
- Destitute of a tomb.
- lurid a.
- Pale yellow; ghastly pale; wan; gloomy; dismal. [L. luridus.]
- incarnadine a.
- Flesh-colored; of a carnation or pale red color. [F. incarnadin, It. incarnatino; L. pref. in- in + caro, carnis, flesh. Cf. Carnation, Incarnate.]
- doubtless a.
- Free from fear or suspicion.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Two Soldiers 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 Two Soldiers, in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2863, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-satires/the-two-soldiers.html, id L24089.
Form and metre
The Two Soldiers is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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 ABABAB wallA · iB · hallA · byeB · allA · byB
- 2 A-ABAB knewA · gone · residueA · yonB · viewA · wanB
- 3 ABA-AB seeA · shineB · sheA · incarnadine · heA · mineB
- 4 ABA-AB knownA · airB · shownA · were · thrownA · thereB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| JUST at the corner of the wall | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| We met—yes, he and I— | 6 | ······ |
| Who had not faced in camp or hall | 8 | ········ |
| Since we bade home good-bye, | 6 | ······ |
| And what once happened came back—all— | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Out of those years gone by. | 6 | ······ |
| And that strange woman whom we knew | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And loved—long dead and gone, | 6 | ······ |
| Whose poor half-perished residue, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Tombless and trod, lay yon! | 6 | /˘···· |
| But at this moment to our view | 8 | ···/˘·/· |
| Rose like a phantom wan. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And in his fixed face I could see, | 8 | ········ |
| Lit by a lurid shine, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The drama re-enact which she | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Had dyed incarnadine | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| For us, and more. And doubtless he | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Beheld it too in mine. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| A start, as at one slightly known, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And with an indifferent air | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| We passed, without a sign being shown | 8 | ······/· |
| That, as it real were, | 5 | ····· |
| A memory-acted scene had thrown | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Its tragic shadow there. | 6 | ·/˘/·· |
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.