The Milkmaid
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
Under a daisied bank
There stands a rich red ruminating cow,
And hard against her flank
A cotton-hooded milkmaid bends her brow.
The flowery river-ooze
Upheaves and falls; the milk purrs in the pail;
Few pilgrims but would choose
The peace of such a life in such a vale.
The maid breathes words--to vent,
It seems, her sense of Nature's scenery,
Of whose life, sentiment,
And essence, very part itself is she.
She bends a glance of pain,
And, at a moment, lets escape a tear;
Is it that passing train,
Whose alien whirr offends her country ear? -
Nay! Phyllis does not dwell
On visual and familiar things like these;
What moves her is the spell
Of inner themes and inner poetries:
Could but by Sunday morn
Her gay new gown come, meads might dry to dun,
Trains shriek till ears were torn,
If Fred would not prefer that Other One.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 20, 2023
- 46 sec read
- 147 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABAB CDCD XEXE FXFX GXGC HIHI |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 869 |
Words | 154 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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"The Milkmaid" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/36530/the-milkmaid>.
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