Analysis of The Slow Nature
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
(an Incident of Froom Valley)
"THY husband--poor, poor Heart!--is dead--
Dead, out by Moreford Rise;
A bull escaped the barton-shed,
Gored him, and there he lies!"
--"Ha, ha--go away! 'Tis a tale, methink,
Thou joker Kit!" laughed she.
"I've known thee many a year, Kit Twink,
And ever hast thou fooled me!"
--"But, Mistress Damon--I can swear
Thy goodman John is dead!
And soon th'lt hear their feet who bear
His body to his bed."
So unwontedly sad was the merry man's face--
That face which had long deceived--
That she gazed and gazed; and then could trace
The truth there; and she believed.
She laid a hand on the dresser-ledge,
And scanned far Egdon-side;
And stood; and you heard the wind-swept sedge
And the rippling Froom; till she cried:
"O my chamber's untidied, unmade my bed,
Though the day has begun to wear!
'What a slovenly hussif!' it will be said,
When they all go up my stair!"
She disappeared; and the joker stood
Depressed by his neighbor's doom,
And amazed that a wife struck to widowhood
Thought first of her unkempt room.
But a fortnight thence she could take no food,
And she pined in a slow decay;
While Kit soon lost his mournful mood
And laughed in his ancient way.
Scheme | A BCBC DADA EBEB FGFG HIHI BEBE XJBJ KDKX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11001110 11011111 11111 01010101 110111 111011011 110111 111100111 0101111 11010111 110111 01111111 110111 111101011 1111101 111010111 0110101 110110101 01111 010110111 001001111 111010111 10110111 1010011111 1111111 10100101 0111101 001101111 1110011 101111111 01100101 11111101 0101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,376 |
Words | 222 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 33 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 100 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 148 Views
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"The Slow Nature" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/36562/the-slow-nature>.
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