Analysis of At Castle Boterel
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
As I drive to the junction of lane and highway,
And the drizzle bedrenches the waggonette,
I look behind at the fading byway,
And see on its slope, now glistening wet,
Distinctly yet
Myself and a girlish form benighted
In dry March weather. We climb the road
Beside a chaise. We had just alighted
To ease the sturdy pony's load
When he sighed and slowed.
What we did as we climbed, and what we talked of
Matters not much, nor to what it led, -
Something that life will not be balked of
Without rude reason till hope is dead,
And feeling fled.
It filled but a minute. But was there ever
A time of such quality, since or before,
In that hill's story? To one mind never,
Though it has been climbed, foot-swift, foot-sore,
By thousands more.
Primaeval rocks form the road's steep border,
And much have they faced there, first and last,
Of the transitory in Earth's long order;
But what they record in colour and cast
Is - that we two passed.
And to me, though Time's unflinching rigour,
In mindless rote, has ruled from sight
The substance now, one phantom figure
Remains on the slope, as when that night
Saw us alight.
I look and see it there, shrinking, shrinking,
I look back at it amid the rain
For the very last time; for my sand is sinking,
And I shall traverse old love's domain
Never again.
Scheme | ABABB BBBBB CBCBB DEDEE DBDBB DBDBB FGFGX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110101101 0010101 110110101 0111111001 0101 100101010 011101101 01011111 1101011 11101 11111101111 101111111 101111111 011101111 0101 11101011110 01111001101 0111011110 111111111 1101 11101110 011111101 1010001110 111010101 11111 011110101 01011111 010111010 011011111 1101 1101111010 111110101 101011111110 011101101 1001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,338 |
Words | 249 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 35 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 144 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 35 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 26, 2023
- 1:16 min read
- 282 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"At Castle Boterel" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/36336/at-castle-boterel>.
Discuss this Thomas Hardy poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In