Her Dilemma (In — Church)
THE two were silent in a sunless church,Whose mildewed walls, uneven paving-stones,And wasted carvings passed antique research;And nothing broke the clock’s dull monotones.
Leaning against a wormy poppy-head,So wan and worn that he could scarcely stand,—For he was soon to die,—he softly said,“Tell me you love me!”—holding hard her hand.
She would have given a world to breathe “yes” truly,So much his life seemed handing on her mind,And hence she lied, her heart persuaded throughly’Twas worth her soul to be a moment kind.
But the sad need thereof, his nearing death,So mocked humanity that she shamed to prizeA world conditioned thus, or care for breathWhere Nature such dilemmas could devise.
Words in this poem
- sunless a.
- Destitute or deprived of the sun or its rays; shaded; shadowed.
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- wormy a.
- Containing a worm; abounding with worms.
- lied n.
- A lay; a German song. It differs from the French chanson, and the Italian canzone, all three being national. [G.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Her Dilemma (In — Church) is in the public domain. This text is taken from Wessex Poems and Other Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #3167; 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, Her Dilemma (In — Church), in Wessex Poems and Other Verses (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3167, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-wessex-poems/her-dilemma-in-church.html, id L04448.
Form and metre
Her Dilemma (In — Church) is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 churchA · stonesB · researchA · monotonesB
- 2 ABAB headA · standB · saidA · handB
- 3 -A-A truly · mindA · throughly · kindA
- 4 ABAB deathA · prizeB · breathA · deviseB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| THE two were silent in a sunless church, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Whose mildewed walls, uneven paving-stones, | 10 | ·/··˘/˘/˘· |
| And wasted carvings passed antique research; | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘/ |
| And nothing broke the clock’s dull monotones. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Leaning against a wormy poppy-head, | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘· |
| So wan and worn that he could scarcely stand, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| —For he was soon to die,—he softly said, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| “Tell me you love me!”—holding hard her hand. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| She would have given a world to breathe “yes” truly, | 11 | ···/·····/˘ |
| So much his life seemed handing on her mind, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And hence she lied, her heart persuaded throughly | 11 | ······˘/˘/˘ |
| ’Twas worth her soul to be a moment kind. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But the sad need thereof, his nearing death, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| So mocked humanity that she shamed to prize | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| A world conditioned thus, or care for breath | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Where Nature such dilemmas could devise. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
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.