The Ivy-Wife
I LONGED to love a full-boughed beechAnd be as high as he:I stretched an arm within his reach,And signalled unity.But with his drip he forced a breach,And tried to poison me.
I gave the grasp of partnershipTo one of other race—A plane: he barked him strip by stripFrom upper bough to base;And me therewith; for gone my grip,My arms could not enlace.
In new affection next I stroveTo coll an ash I saw,And he in trust received my love;Till with my soft green clawI cramped and bound him as I wove . . .Such was my love: ha-ha!
By this I gained his strength and heightWithout his rivalry.But in my triumph I lost sightOf afterhaps. Soon he,Being bark-bound, flagged, snapped, fell outright,And in his fall felled me!
Words in this poem
- drip v. i.
- To fall in drops; as, water drips from the eaves. [Akin to LG. drippen, Dan. dryppe, from a noun. See Drop.]
- therewith adv.
- With that or this.
- enlace v. t.
- To bind or encircle with lace, or as with lace; to lace; to encircle; to enfold; hence, to entangle.
- wove
- p. pr. & rare vb. n. of Weave.
- outright adv.
- Immediately; without delay; at once; as, he was killed outright.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Ivy-Wife 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, The Ivy-Wife, in Wessex Poems and Other Verses (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3167, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-wessex-poems/the-ivy-wife.html, id L04466.
Form and metre
The Ivy-Wife is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABA-AB beechA · heB · reachA · unity · breachA · meB
- 2 ABABAB partnershipA · raceB · stripA · baseB · gripA · enlaceB
- 3 AB-BA- stroveA · sawB · love · clawB · woveA · ha
- 4 A-ABAB heightA · rivalry · sightA · heB · outrightA · meB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I LONGED to love a full-boughed beech | 8 | ········ |
| And be as high as he: | 6 | ······ |
| I stretched an arm within his reach, | 8 | ········ |
| And signalled unity. | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| But with his drip he forced a breach, | 8 | ········ |
| And tried to poison me. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I gave the grasp of partnership | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To one of other race— | 6 | ···/˘· |
| A plane: he barked him strip by strip | 8 | ········ |
| From upper bough to base; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And me therewith; for gone my grip, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| My arms could not enlace. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| In new affection next I strove | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| To coll an ash I saw, | 6 | ······ |
| And he in trust received my love; | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Till with my soft green claw | 6 | ······ |
| I cramped and bound him as I wove . . . | 8 | ········ |
| Such was my love: ha-ha! | 6 | ······ |
| By this I gained his strength and height | 8 | ········ |
| Without his rivalry. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| But in my triumph I lost sight | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Of afterhaps. Soon he, | 6 | ······ |
| Being bark-bound, flagged, snapped, fell outright, | 8 | /·····// |
| And in his fall felled me! | 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.