Analysis of The Haunter
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
He does not think that I haunt here nightly:
How shall I let him know
That whither his fancy sets him wandering
I, too, alertly go? -
Hover and hover a few feet from him
Just as I used to do,
But cannot answer his words addressed me -
Only listen thereto!
When I could answer he did not say them:
When I could let him know
How I would like to join in his journeys
Seldom he wished to go.
Now that he goes and wants me with him
More than he used to do,
Never he sees my faithful phantom
Though he speaks thereto.
Yes, I accompany him to places
Only dreamers know,
Where the shy hares show their faces,
Where the night rooks go;
Into old aisles where the past is all to him,
Close as his shade can do,
Always lacking the power to call to him,
Near as I reach thereto!
What a good haunter I am, O tell him,
Quickly make him know
If he but sigh since my loss befell him
Straight to his side I go.
And if it be that at night I am stronger,
Go, too, by day I do:
Please, then, keep him in gloom no longer,
Even ghosts tend thereto!
Scheme | ABXBCDAD XBXBCDXD EBEBCDCD CBCBFDFD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111111110 111111 11011011100 110101 1001001111 111111 1101011011 10101 1111011111 111111 1111110110 101111 111101111 111111 101111010 1111 1101001110 10101 10111110 10111 01111011111 111111 1100101111 11111 101111111 10111 1111111011 111111 01111111110 111111 111101110 10111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,002 |
Words | 214 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 196 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 53 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 12, 2023
- 1:04 min read
- 151 Views
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