To an Orphan Child a Whimsey
AH, child, thou art but half thy darling mother’s;Hers couldst thou wholly be,My light in thee would outglow all in others;She would relive to me.But niggard Nature’s trick of birthBars, lest she overjoy,Renewal of the loved on earthSave with alloy.
The Dame has no regard, alas, my maiden,For love and loss like mine—No sympathy with mind-sight memory-laden;Only with fickle eyne.To her mechanic artistryMy dreams are all unknown,And why I wish that thou couldst beBut One’s alone!
Words in this poem
- relive v. t.
- To recall to life; to revive.
- overjoy v. t.
- To make excessively joyful; to gratify extremely.
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- eyne n.
- Plural of eye; obsolete, or used only in poetry.
- artistry n.
- Works of art collectively.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To an Orphan Child a Whimsey 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, To an Orphan Child a Whimsey, in Wessex Poems and Other Verses (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3167, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-wessex-poems/to-an-orphan-child-a-whimsey.html, id L04475.
Form and metre
To an Orphan Child a Whimsey is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.4 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABCDCD mother'sA · beB · othersA · meB · birthC · overjoyD · earthC · alloyD
- 2 AAA--B-B maidenA · mineA · ladenA · eyne · artistry · unknownB · be · aloneB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| AH, child, thou art but half thy darling mother’s; | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Hers couldst thou wholly be, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| My light in thee would outglow all in others; | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| She would relive to me. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| But niggard Nature’s trick of birth | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Bars, lest she overjoy, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Renewal of the loved on earth | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Save with alloy. | 4 | ··/· |
| The Dame has no regard, alas, my maiden, | 11 | ····˘/˘/·/˘ |
| For love and loss like mine— | 6 | ······ |
| No sympathy with mind-sight memory-laden; | 10 | ·/˘···/˘/˘ |
| Only with fickle eyne. | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| To her mechanic artistry | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| My dreams are all unknown, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And why I wish that thou couldst be | 8 | ········ |
| But One’s alone! | 4 | ··˘/ |
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.