She, to Him
WHEN you shall see me in the toils of Time,My lauded beauties carried off from me,My eyes no longer stars as in their prime,My name forgot of Maiden Fair and Free;
When in your being heart concedes to mind,And judgment, though you scarce its process know,Recalls the excellencies I once enshrined,And you are irked that they have withered so:
Remembering that with me lies not the blame,That Sportsman Time but rears his brood to kill,Knowing me in my soul the very same—One who would die to spare you touch of ill!—Will you not grant to old affection’s claimThe hand of friendship down Life’s sunless hill?
PERHAPS, long hence, when I have passed away,Some other’s feature, accent, thought like mine,Will carry you back to what I used to say,And bring some memory of your love’s decline.
Then you may pause awhile and think, “Poor jade!”And yield a sigh to me—as ample due,Not as the tittle of a debt unpaidTo one who could resign her all to you—
And thus reflecting, you will never seeThat your thin thought, in two small words conveyed,Was no such fleeting phantom-thought to me,But the Whole Life wherein my part was played;And you amid its fitful masqueradeA Thought—as I in yours but seem to be.
I WILL be faithful to thee; aye, I will!And Death shall choose me with a wondering eyeThat he did not discern and domicileOne his by right ever since that last Good-bye!
I have no care for friends, or kin, or primeOf manhood who deal gently with me here;Amid the happy people of my timeWho work their love’s fulfilment, I appear
Numb as a vane that cankers on its point,True to the wind that kissed ere canker came;Despised by souls of Now, who would disjointThe mind from memory, and make Life all aim,
My old dexterities of hue quite gone,And nothing left for Love to look upon.
This love puts all humanity from me;I can but maledict her, pray her dead,For giving love and getting love of thee—Feeding a heart that else mine own had fed!
How much I love I know not, life not known,Save as some unit I would add love by;But this I know, my being is but thine own—Fused from its separateness by ecstasy.
And thus I grasp thy amplitudes, of herUngrasped, though helped by nigh-regarding eyes;Canst thou then hate me as an envierWho see unrecked what I so dearly prize?Believe me, Lost One, Love is lovelierThe more it shapes its moan in selfish-wise.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- sunless a.
- Destitute or deprived of the sun or its rays; shaded; shadowed.
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- tittle n.
- A particle; a minute part; a jot; an iota. [OE. titel, titil, apparently a dim. of tit, in the sense of small; cf. G. tüttel a tittle, dim. of OHG. tutta teat. Perhaps, however, the same word as title, n.]
- 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]
- fitful a.
- Full of fits; irregularly variable; impulsive and unstable. [From 7th Fit.]
- domicile n.
- An abode or mansion; a place of permanent residence, either of an individual or a family. [L. domicilium; domus house + (prob.) root of celare to conceal: cf. F. domicile. See Dome, and Conceal.]
- maledict a.
- Accursed; abominable. [L. maledictus, p. p. of maledicere.]
- envier n.
- One who envies; one who desires inordinately what another possesses.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
She, to Him 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, She, to Him, in Wessex Poems and Other Verses (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3167, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-wessex-poems/she-to-him.html, id L04450.
Form and metre
She, to Him is 56 lines in 13 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 7 of its 13 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 23% 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 timeA · meB · primeA · freeB
- 2 ABAB mindA · knowB · enshrinedA · soB
- 3 ABABAB blameA · killB · sameA · illB · claimA · hillB
- 4 ABAB awayA · mineB · sayA · declineB
- 5 ABAB jadeA · dueB · unpaidA · youB
- 6 ABABBA seeA · conveyedB · meA · playedB · masqueradeB · beA
- 7 -A-A will · eyeA · domicile · byeA
- 8 ABAB primeA · hereB · timeA · appearB
- 9 ABAB pointA · cameB · disjointA · aimB
- 11 ABAB meA · deadB · theeA · fedB
- 12 A-A- knownA · by · ownA · ecstasy
- 13 -ABABA her · eyesA · envierB · prizeA · lovelierB · wiseA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| WHEN you shall see me in the toils of Time, | 10 | ·········· |
| My lauded beauties carried off from me, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| My eyes no longer stars as in their prime, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| My name forgot of Maiden Fair and Free; | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| When in your being heart concedes to mind, | 9 | ···/·˘/·· |
| And judgment, though you scarce its process know, | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| Recalls the excellencies I once enshrined, | 10 | ˘/·//˘··˘/ |
| And you are irked that they have withered so: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Remembering that with me lies not the blame, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| That Sportsman Time but rears his brood to kill, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Knowing me in my soul the very same— | 9 | /·····/˘· |
| One who would die to spare you touch of ill!— | 10 | ·········· |
| Will you not grant to old affection’s claim | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| The hand of friendship down Life’s sunless hill? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| PERHAPS, long hence, when I have passed away, | 10 | ˘/······˘/ |
| Some other’s feature, accent, thought like mine, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/···· |
| Will carry you back to what I used to say, | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| And bring some memory of your love’s decline. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Then you may pause awhile and think, “Poor jade!” | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| And yield a sigh to me—as ample due, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Not as the tittle of a debt unpaid | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| To one who could resign her all to you— | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| And thus reflecting, you will never see | 9 | ··˘/˘··/· |
| That your thin thought, in two small words conveyed, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Was no such fleeting phantom-thought to me, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| But the Whole Life wherein my part was played; | 10 | ·········· |
| And you amid its fitful masquerade | 10 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| A Thought—as I in yours but seem to be. | 10 | ·········· |
| I WILL be faithful to thee; aye, I will! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And Death shall choose me with a wondering eye | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That he did not discern and domicile | 10 | ····˘/·/˘˘ |
| One his by right ever since that last Good-bye! | 10 | ····/····· |
| I have no care for friends, or kin, or prime | 10 | ·········· |
| Of manhood who deal gently with me here; | 10 | ·/···/˘··· |
| Amid the happy people of my time | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘··· |
| Who work their love’s fulfilment, I appear | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Numb as a vane that cankers on its point, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| True to the wind that kissed ere canker came; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Despised by souls of Now, who would disjoint | 10 | ˘/······˘/ |
| The mind from memory, and make Life all aim, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| My old dexterities of hue quite gone, | 9 | ··˘/˘···· |
| And nothing left for Love to look upon. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| This love puts all humanity from me; | 9 | ····˘/˘·· |
| I can but maledict her, pray her dead, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| For giving love and getting love of thee— | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Feeding a heart that else mine own had fed! | 10 | /˘········ |
| How much I love I know not, life not known, | 10 | ·········· |
| Save as some unit I would add love by; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But this I know, my being is but thine own— | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Fused from its separateness by ecstasy. | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| And thus I grasp thy amplitudes, of her | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Ungrasped, though helped by nigh-regarding eyes; | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Canst thou then hate me as an envier | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Who see unrecked what I so dearly prize? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Believe me, Lost One, Love is lovelier | 10 | ˘/········ |
| The more it shapes its moan in selfish-wise. | 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.