To Meet, or Otherwise
WHETHER to sally and see thee, girl of my dreams,Or whether to stayAnd see thee not! How vast the difference seemsOf Yea from NayJust now. Yet this same sun will slant its beamsAt no far dayOn our two mounds, and then what will the difference weigh!
Yet I will see thee, maiden dear, and makeThe most I canOf what remains to us amid this brake CimmerianThrough which we grope, and from whose thorns we ache,While still we scanRound our frail faltering progress for some path or plan.
By briefest meeting something sure is won;It will have been:Nor God nor Daemon can undo the done,Unsight the seen,Make muted music be as unbegun,Though things terreneGroan in their bondage till oblivion supervene.
So, to the one long-sweeping symphonyFrom times remoteTill now, of human tenderness, shall weSupply one note,Small and untraced, yet that will ever beSomewhere afloatAmid the spheres, as part of sick Life’s antidote.
Words in this poem
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- cimmerian a.
- Pertaining to the Cimmerii, a fabulous people, said to have lived, in very ancient times, in profound and perpetual darkness. [L. Cimmerius.]
- ache n.
- A name given to several species of plants; as, smallage, wild celery, parsley. Holland. [F. ache, L. apium parsley.]
- scan v. t.
- To mount by steps; to go through with step by step. [L. scandere, scansum, to climb, to scan, akin to Skr. skand to spring, leap: cf. F. scander. Cf. Ascend, Descend, Scale a ladder.]
- faltering a.
- Hesitating; trembling.
- unsight a.
- Doing or done without sight; not seeing or examining.
- unbegun a.
- Not yet begun; also, existing without a beginning.
- terrene n.
- A tureen. Walpole.
- oblivion n.
- The act of forgetting, or the state of being forgotten; cessation of remembrance; forgetfulness. [L. oblivio, akin to oblivisci to forget: cf. OF. oblivion.]
- supervene v. i.
- To come as something additional or extraneous; to occur with reference or relation to something else; to happen upon or after something else; to be added; to take place; to happen. [L. supervenire, superventum, to come over, to come upon; super over + venire to come. See Super-, and Come, and cf. Overcome.]
- symphony n.
- A consonance or harmony of sounds, agreeable to the ear, whether the sounds are vocal or instrumental, or both. [F. symphonie (cf. It. sinfonia), L. symphonia, Gr. Phonetic.]
- 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,]
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
- afloat adv.
- Borne on the water; floating; on board ship. [Pref. a- + float.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Meet, or Otherwise 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, To Meet, or Otherwise, in Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2863, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-satires/to-meet-or-otherwise.html, id L24003.
Form and metre
To Meet, or Otherwise is 27 lines in 4 stanzas. 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 ABABABB dreamsA · stayB · seemsA · nayB · beamsA · dayB · weighB
- 2 AB-ABB makeA · canB · cimmerian · acheA · scanB · planB
- 3 AAABABB wonA · beenA · doneA · seenB · unbegunA · terreneB · superveneB
- 4 -ABABAA symphony · remoteA · weB · noteA · beB · afloatA · antidoteA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| WHETHER to sally and see thee, girl of my dreams, | 12 | ···/˘······· |
| Or whether to stay | 5 | ····· |
| And see thee not! How vast the difference seems | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of Yea from Nay | 4 | ···· |
| Just now. Yet this same sun will slant its beams | 10 | ·········· |
| At no far day | 4 | ···· |
| On our two mounds, and then what will the difference weigh! | 12 | ·/·······/˘· |
| Yet I will see thee, maiden dear, and make | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The most I can | 4 | ···· |
| Of what remains to us amid this brake Cimmerian | 14 | ··˘/··˘/··˘/˘˘ |
| Through which we grope, and from whose thorns we ache, | 10 | ·········· |
| While still we scan | 4 | ···· |
| Round our frail faltering progress for some path or plan. | 12 | ·/·/˘/······ |
| By briefest meeting something sure is won; | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| It will have been: | 4 | ···· |
| Nor God nor Daemon can undo the done, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Unsight the seen, | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Make muted music be as unbegun, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Though things terrene | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Groan in their bondage till oblivion supervene. | 12 | ···/˘·˘/˘··· |
| So, to the one long-sweeping symphony | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| From times remote | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Till now, of human tenderness, shall we | 9 | ···/˘/˘·· |
| Supply one note, | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Small and untraced, yet that will ever be | 9 | ·······/· |
| Somewhere afloat | 4 | /·˘/ |
| Amid the spheres, as part of sick Life’s antidote. | 12 | ˘/·······/˘· |
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.