Laurel · Thomas Hardy · Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries

The Workbox

Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) · 1914

common measure · ABAB · 40 lines · from Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries

“SEE, here’s the workbox, little wife,That I made of polished oak.”He was a joiner, of village life;She came of borough folk.

He holds the present up to herAs with a smile she nearsAnd answers to the profferer,“’Twill last all my sewing years!”

“I warrant it will. And longer too.’Tis a scantling that I gotOff poor John Wayward’s coffin, whoDied of they knew not what.

“The shingled pattern that seems to ceaseAgainst your box’s rimContinues right on in the pieceThat’s underground with him.

“And while I worked it made me thinkOf timber’s varied doom;One inch where people eat and drink,The next inch in a tomb.

“But why do you look so white, my dear,And turn aside your face?You knew not that good lad, I fear,Though he came from your native place?”

“How could I know that good young man,Though he came from my native town,When he must have left there earlier thanI was a woman grown?”

“Ah no. I should have understood!It shocked you that I gaveTo you one end of a piece of woodWhose other is in a grave?”

“Don’t, dear, despise my intellect,Mere accidental thingsOf that sort never have effectOn my imaginings.”

Yet still her lips were limp and wan,Her face still held aside,As if she had known not only John,But known of what he died.

Words in this poem

workbox n.: A box for holding instruments or materials for work.
joiner n.: One who, or that which, joins.
folk n.: In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
profferer n.: One who proffers something.
twill v. i.: To weave, as cloth, so as to produce the appearance of diagonal lines or ribs on the surface. [Scotch tweel; probably from LG. twillen to make double, from twi- two; akin to AS. twi-, E. twi- in twilight. See Twice, and cf. Tweed, Tweel.]
scantling a.: Not plentiful; small; scanty. Jer. Taylor. [See Scant, a.]
wayward a.: Taking one's own way; disobedient; froward; perverse; willful. [OE. weiward, for aweiward, i. e., turned away. See Away, and -ward.]
despise v. t.: To look down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of. [OF. despis-, in some forms of despire to despise, fr. L. despicere, despectum, to look down upon, despise; de- + spicere, specere, to look. See Spy, and cf. Des]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

The Workbox 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 Workbox, in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2863, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-satires/the-workbox.html, id L24093.

Form and metre

The Workbox is 40 lines in 10 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 7 of its 10 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).

See other poems in common measure.

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 ABAB wife^A · oak^B · life^A · folk^B
2 -A-A her · nears^A · profferer · years^A
3 A-A- too^A · got · who^A · what
4 ABAB cease^A · rim^B · piece^A · him^B
5 ABAB think^A · doom^B · drink^A · tomb^B
6 ABAB dear^A · face^B · fear^A · place^B
7 A-A- man^A · town · than^A · grown
8 ABAB understood^A · gave^B · wood^A · grave^B
9 ABAB intellect^A · things^B · effect^A · imaginings^B
10 ABAB wan^A · aside^B · john^A · died^B

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 common measure. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
“SEE, here’s the workbox, little wife,	8	···/˘/˘·
That I made of polished oak.”	7	····/˘·
He was a joiner, of village life;	9	···/˘·/˘·
She came of borough folk.	6	···/··
He holds the present up to her	8	···/˘···
As with a smile she nears	6	······
And answers to the profferer,	8	·/˘··/˘˘
“’Twill last all my sewing years!”	7	····/˘·
“I warrant it will. And longer too.	9	·/˘···/˘·
’Tis a scantling that I got	7	··/˘···
Off poor John Wayward’s coffin, who	8	···/˘/˘·
Died of they knew not what.	6	······
“The shingled pattern that seems to cease	9	·/˘/˘····
Against your box’s rim	6	···/˘·
Continues right on in the piece	8	˘/˘·····
That’s underground with him.	6	·/˘···
“And while I worked it made me think	8	········
Of timber’s varied doom;	6	·/˘/˘·
One inch where people eat and drink,	8	···/˘···
The next inch in a tomb.	6	······
“But why do you look so white, my dear,	9	·········
And turn aside your face?	6	··˘/··
You knew not that good lad, I fear,	8	········
Though he came from your native place?”	8	·····/˘·
“How could I know that good young man,	8	········
Though he came from my native town,	8	·····/˘·
When he must have left there earlier than	9	······/˘·
I was a woman grown?”	6	···/˘·
“Ah no. I should have understood!	8	······˘/
It shocked you that I gave	6	······
To you one end of a piece of wood	9	·········
Whose other is in a grave?”	7	·/˘····
“Don’t, dear, despise my intellect,	8	··˘/·/˘·
Mere accidental things	6	··˘/˘·
Of that sort never have effect	8	···/˘·˘/
On my imaginings.”	6	··˘/˘˘
Yet still her lips were limp and wan,	8	········
Her face still held aside,	6	····˘/
As if she had known not only John,	9	······/˘·
But known of what he died.	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.

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