Laurel · Thomas Hardy · Wessex Poems and Other Verses

With Thoughts of Sergeant M— (Pensioner), Who Died 185

Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) · 1898

iambic pentameter · 70 lines · from Wessex Poems and Other Verses

“WHY, Sergeant, stray on the Ivel Way,As though at home there were spectres rife?From first to last ’twas a proud career!And your sunny years with a gracious wifeHave brought you a daughter dear.

“I watched her to-day; a more comely maid,As she danced in her muslin bowed with blue,Round a Hintock maypole never gayed.”—“Aye, aye; I watched her this day, too,As it happens,” the Sergeant said.

“My daughter is now,” he again began,“Of just such an age as one I knewWhen we of the Line and Forlorn-hope van,On an August morning—a chosen few—Stormed San Sebastian.

“She’s a score less three; so about was she—The maiden I wronged in Peninsular days . . .You may prate of your prowess in lusty times,But as years gnaw inward you blink your bays,And see too well your crimes!

“We’d stormed it at night, by the vlanker-lightOf burning towers, and the mortar’s boom:We’d topped the breach; but had failed to stay,For our files were misled by the baffling gloom;And we said we’d storm by day.

“So, out of the trenches, with features set,On that hot, still morning, in measured pace,Our column climbed; climbed higher yet,Past the fauss’bray, scarp, up the curtain-face,And along the parapet.

“From the battened hornwork the cannoneersHove crashing balls of iron fire;On the shaking gap mount the volunteersIn files, and as they mount expireAmid curses, groans, and cheers.

“Five hours did we storm, five hours re-form,As Death cooled those hot blood pricked on;Till our cause was helped by a woe within:They swayed from the summit we’d leapt upon,And madly we entered in.

“On end for plunder, ’mid rain and thunderThat burst with the lull of our cannonade,We vamped the streets in the stifling air—Our hunger unsoothed, our thirst unstayed—And ransacked the buildings there.

“Down the stony steps of the house-fronts whiteWe rolled rich puncheons of Spanish grape,Till at length, with the fire of the wine alight,I saw at a doorway a fair fresh shape—A woman, a sylph, or sprite.

“Afeard she fled, and with heated headI pursued to the chamber she called her own;—When might is right no qualms deter,And having her helpless and aloneI wreaked my will on her.

“She raised her beseeching eyes to me,And I heard the words of prayer she sentIn her own soft language . . . SeeminglyI copied those eyes for my punishmentIn begetting the girl you see!

“So, to-day I stand with a God-set brandLike Cain’s, when he wandered from kindred’s ken . . .I served through the war that made Europe free;I wived me in peace-year. But, hid from men,I bear that mark on me.

“And I nightly stray on the Ivel WayAs though at home there were spectres rife;I delight me not in my proud career;And ’tis coals of fire that a gracious wifeShould have brought me a daughter dear!”

Words in this poem 21

rife a.: Prevailing; prevalent; abounding. [AS. rif abundant, or Icel. rifr munificent; akin to OD. riff, rijve, abundant.]
career n.: A race course: the ground run over. [F. carrière race course, high road, street, fr. L. carrus wagon. See Car.]
sunny a.: Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
maypole n.: A tall pole erected in an open place and wreathed with flowers, about which the rustic May-day sports were had.
forlorn a.: Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
peninsular a.: Of or pertaining to a peninsula; as, a peninsular form; peninsular people; the peninsular war. [Cf. F. péninsulaire.]
prowess n.: Distinguished bravery; valor; especially, military bravery and skill; gallantry; intrepidity; fearlessness. Chaucer. Sir P. Sidney. [OF. proece, proesce, F. prouesse. See Prow, a.]
blink v. i.: To wink; to twinkle with, or as with, the eye. [OE. blenken; akin to dan. blinke, Sw. blinka, G. blinken to shine, glance, wink, twinkle, D. blinken to shine; and prob. to D. blikken to glance, twinkle, G. bl]
hornwork n.: An outwork composed of two demibastions joined by a curtain. It is connected with the works in rear by long wings.
hove v. i.: To rise; to swell; to heave; to cause to swell.
crashing n.: The noise of many things falling and breaking at once.
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]
swayed a.: Bent down, and hollow in the back; sway-backed; -- said of a horse.
madly adv.: In a mad manner; without reason or understanding; wildly. [From Mad, a.]
lull v. t.: To cause to rest by soothing influences; to compose; to calm; to soothe; to quiet. [Akin to OD. lullen to sing to sleep, G. lullen, Dan. lulle, Sw. lulla; all of imitative origin. Cf. Loll, Lollard.]
cannonade n.: The act of discharging cannon and throwing ball, shell, etc., for the purpose of destroying an army, or battering a town, ship, or fort; -- usually, an attack of some continuance. [F. Canonnade; cf. It. cannanata.]
doorway n.: The passage of a door; entrance way into a house or a room.
sylph n.: An imaginary being inhabiting the air; a fairy.
sprite n.: A spirit; a soul; a shade; also, an apparition. See Spright. [OE. sprit, F. esprit, fr. L. spiritus. See Spirit, and cf. Sprightly.]
seemingly adv.: In appearance; in show; in semblance; apparently; ostensibly.
nightly a.: Of or pertaining to the night, or to every night; happening or done by night, or every night; as, nightly shades; he kept nightly vigils.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

With Thoughts of Sergeant M— (Pensioner), Who Died 185 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, With Thoughts of Sergeant M— (Pensioner), Who Died 185, in Wessex Poems and Other Verses (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3167, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-wessex-poems/with-thoughts-of-sergeant-m-pensioner-who-died-185.html, id L04454.

Form and metre

With Thoughts of Sergeant M— (Pensioner), Who Died 185 is 70 lines in 14 stanzas of 5 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABA, in 4 of the 14 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 77%). 85% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.9 syllables. 5 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 way · rife^A · career^B · wife^A · dear^B
2 ABAB- maid^A · blue^B · gayed^A · too^B · said
3 ABABA began^A · knew^B · van^A · few^B · sebastian^A
4 -ABAB she · days^A · times^B · bays^A · crimes^B
5 -ABAB light · boom^A · stay^B · gloom^A · day^B
6 ABABA set^A · pace^B · yet^A · face^B · parapet^A
7 ABABA cannoneers^A · fire^B · volunteers^A · expire^B · cheers^A
8 -ABAB form · on^A · within^B · upon^A · in^B
9 -ABAB thunder · cannonade^A · air^B · unstayed^A · there^B
10 ABABA white^A · grape^B · alight^A · shape^B · sprite^A
11 -ABAB head · own^A · deter^B · alone^A · her^B
12 AB-BA me^A · sent^B · seemingly · punishment^B · see^A
13 -ABAB brand · ken^A · free^B · men^A · me^B
14 -ABAB way · rife^A · career^B · wife^A · dear^B

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
“WHY, Sergeant, stray on the Ivel Way,	9	·/˘······
As though at home there were spectres rife?	9	······/˘·
From first to last ’twas a proud career!	9	·······˘/
And your sunny years with a gracious wife	10	··/˘···/˘·
Have brought you a daughter dear.	7	····/˘·
“I watched her to-day; a more comely maid,	10	·······/˘·
As she danced in her muslin bowed with blue,	10	·····/˘···
Round a Hintock maypole never gayed.”	8	····/˘/·
—“Aye, aye; I watched her this day, too,	8	········
As it happens,” the Sergeant said.	8	··/˘·/˘·
“My daughter is now,” he again began,	10	·/˘···˘/˘/
“Of just such an age as one I knew	9	·········
When we of the Line and Forlorn-hope van,	10	······˘/··
On an August morning—a chosen few—	10	··/˘/˘·/˘·
Stormed San Sebastian.	6	·˘·˘/˘
“She’s a score less three; so about was she—	10	··········
The maiden I wronged in Peninsular days . . .	10	·/˘···˘/˘·
You may prate of your prowess in lusty times,	11	·····/˘·/˘·
But as years gnaw inward you blink your bays,	10	····/˘····
And see too well your crimes!	6	······
“We’d stormed it at night, by the vlanker-light	10	··········
Of burning towers, and the mortar’s boom:	9	·/˘/··/˘·
We’d topped the breach; but had failed to stay,	9	·········
For our files were misled by the baffling gloom;	11	·/··˘/··/˘·
And we said we’d storm by day.	7	·······
“So, out of the trenches, with features set,	10	····/˘·/˘·
On that hot, still morning, in measured pace,	10	····/˘·/˘·
Our column climbed; climbed higher yet,	7	//˘··/·
Past the fauss’bray, scarp, up the curtain-face,	10	·······/˘·
And along the parapet.	7	·˘/·/˘·
“From the battened hornwork the cannoneers	10	··/˘/˘····
Hove crashing balls of iron fire;	7	·/˘··//
On the shaking gap mount the volunteers	10	··/˘····˘/
In files, and as they mount expire	8	······˘/
Amid curses, groans, and cheers.	7	˘//˘···
“Five hours did we storm, five hours re-form,	9	·/····/··
As Death cooled those hot blood pricked on;	8	········
Till our cause was helped by a woe within:	10	·/········
They swayed from the summit we’d leapt upon,	10	····/˘····
And madly we entered in.	7	·/˘·/˘·
“On end for plunder, ’mid rain and thunder	10	···/˘···/˘
That burst with the lull of our cannonade,	10	······//˘˘
We vamped the streets in the stifling air—	9	······/˘·
Our hunger unsoothed, our thirst unstayed—	8	//˘··/··
And ransacked the buildings there.	7	·/··/˘·
“Down the stony steps of the house-fronts white	10	··/˘······
We rolled rich puncheons of Spanish grape,	9	······/˘·
Till at length, with the fire of the wine alight,	11	·····/···˘/
I saw at a doorway a fair fresh shape—	10	····/·····
A woman, a sylph, or sprite.	7	·/˘····
“Afeard she fled, and with heated head	9	˘/····/˘·
I pursued to the chamber she called her own;	11	·˘/··/˘····
—When might is right no qualms deter,	8	······˘/
And having her helpless and alone	9	·/˘·/˘·˘/
I wreaked my will on her.	6	······
“She raised her beseeching eyes to me,	9	···˘/˘···
And I heard the words of prayer she sent	9	·········
In her own soft language . . . Seemingly	8	····/˘/˘
I copied those eyes for my punishment	9	·/˘····/˘
In begetting the girl you see!	8	·˘/˘····
“So, to-day I stand with a God-set brand	10	··········
Like Cain’s, when he wandered from kindred’s ken . . .	10	····/˘·/˘·
I served through the war that made Europe free;	10	·······/˘·
I wived me in peace-year. But, hid from men,	10	··········
I bear that mark on me.	6	······
“And I nightly stray on the Ivel Way	10	··/˘······
As though at home there were spectres rife;	9	······/˘·
I delight me not in my proud career;	10	·˘/·····˘/
And ’tis coals of fire that a gracious wife	10	····/··/˘·
Should have brought me a daughter dear!”	8	·····/˘·

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.

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