Analysis of Her Death And After
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
'TWAS a death-bed summons, and forth I went
By the way of the Western Wall, so drear
On that winter night, and sought a gate--
The home, by Fate,
Of one I had long held dear.
And there, as I paused by her tenement,
And the trees shed on me their rime and hoar,
I thought of the man who had left her lone--
Him who made her his own
When I loved her, long before.
The rooms within had the piteous shine
The home-things wear which the housewife miss;
From the stairway floated the rise and fall
Of an infant's call,
Whose birth had brought her to this.
Her life was the price she would pay for that whine--
For a child by the man she did not love.
"But let that rest forever," I said,
And bent my tread
To the chamber up above.
She took my hand in her thin white own,
And smiled her thanks--though nigh too weak--
And made them a sign to leave us there;
Then faltered, ere
She could bring herself to speak.
"'Twas to see you before I go--he'll condone
Such a natural thing now my time's not much--
When Death is so near it hustles hence
All passioned sense
Between woman and man as such!
"My husband is absent. As heretofore
The City detains him. But, in truth,
He has not been kind.... I will speak no blame,
But--the child is lame;
O, I pray she may reach his ruth!
"Forgive past days--I can say no more--
Maybe if we'd wedded you'd now repine!...
But I treated you ill. I was punished. Farewell!
--Truth shall I tell?
Would the child were yours and mine!
"As a wife I was true. But, such my unease
That, could I insert a deed back in Time,
I'd make her yours, to secure your care;
And the scandal bear,
And the penalty for the crime!"
--When I had left, and the swinging trees
Rang above me, as lauding her candid say,
Another was I. Her words were enough:
Came smooth, came rough,
I felt I could live my day.
Next night she died; and her obsequies
In the Field of Tombs, by the Via renowned,
Had her husband's heed. His tendance spent,
I often went
And pondered by her mound.
All that year and the next year whiled,
And I still went thitherward in the gloam;
But the Town forgot her and her nook,
And her husband took
Another Love to his home.
And the rumor flew that the lame lone child
Whom she wished for its safety child of mine,
Was treated ill when offspring came
Of the new-made dame,
And marked a more vigorous line.
A smarter grief within me wrought
Than even at loss of her so dear;
Dead the being whose soul my soul suffused,
Her child ill-used,
I helpless to interfere!
One eve as I stood at my spot of thought
In the white-stoned Garth, brooding thus her wrong,
Her husband neared; and to shun his view
By her hallowed mew
I went from the tombs among
To the Cirque of the Gladiators which faced--
That haggard mark of Imperial Rome,
Whose Pagan echoes mock the chime
Of our Christian time:
It was void, and I inward clomb.
Scarce had night the sun's gold touch displaced
From the vast Rotund and the neighboring dead
When her husband followed; bowed; half-passed,
With lip upcast;
Then, halting, sullenly said:
"It is noised that you visit my first wife's tomb.
Now, I gave her an honored name to bear
While living, when dead. So I've claim to ask
By what right you task
My patience by vigiling there?
"There's decency even in death, I assume;
Preserve it, sir, and keep away;
For the mother of my first-born you
Show mind undue!
--Sir, I've nothing more to say."
A desperate stroke discerned I then--
God pardon--or pardon not--the lie;
She had sighed that she wished (lest the child should pine
Of slights) 'twere mine,
So I said: "But the father I.
"That you thought it yours is the way of men;
But I won her troth long ere your day:
You learnt how, in dying, she
Scheme | ABCCB XBDDB EFGGF EHIIH DJBBJ DKLLK BMNNM BDOOE PQBBQ PRSSR FTAAT AUVVU XENNE WBXXB WXYYX ZUQQN ZIXAI 1 B2 2 B 1 RYYR 3 4 EE4 3 RX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1011100111 1011010111 111010101 0111 1111111 0111110100 0011111101 1110111101 111011 1110101 01011011 01111011 101100101 11101 1111011 01101111111 1011011111 111101011 0111 1010101 111100111 01011111 011011111 1101 1110111 11110111101 10100111111 111111101 111 01100111 110110101 01011101 1111111111 10111 11111111 011111111 101110111 11101111101 1111 1010101 10111111101 1110101101 110110111 00101 00100101 111100101 10111100101 0101101001 1111 1111111 1111001 00111101001 10101111 1101 010101 11100111 01111001 101010001 00101 0101111 0010110111 1111110111 1101111 10111 01011001 01010111 110111011 1010111101 0111 110101 1111111111 0011110101 010101111 10101 1110101 1011010011 1101101001 11010101 110101 11101101 111011101 10101001001 101010111 111 11011 11111101111 1110110111 1101111111 11111 110111 11001001101 01110101 101011111 1101 1110111 01010111 110110101 11111110111 1111 11110101 1111110111 111011111 1110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 4,208 |
Words | 705 |
Sentences | 34 |
Stanzas | 21 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 3 |
Lines Amount | 103 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 133 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 3:34 min read
- 208 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Her Death And After" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/36381/her-death-and-after>.
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