Analysis of Mad Judy

Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)



When the hamlet hailed a birth
   Judy used to cry:
When she heard our christening mirth
   She would kneel and sigh.
She was crazed, we knew, and we
Humoured her infirmity.

When the daughters and the sons
   Gathered them to wed,
And we like-intending ones
   Danced till dawn was red,
She would rock and mutter, "More
Comers to this stony shore!"

When old Headsman Death laid hands
   On a babe or twain,
She would feast, and by her brands
   Sing her songs again.
What she liked we let her do,
Judy was insane, we knew.


Scheme ABABCC DEDEFF GXGXHH
Poetic Form
Metre 1010101 10111 111101001 11101 1111101 100100 1010001 10111 0110101 11111 1110101 1011101 1110111 10111 1110101 10101 1111101 1010111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 530
Words 98
Sentences 6
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 131
Words per stanza (avg) 32
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

29 sec read
136

Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy, was not a Scottish Minister, not a Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland nor a Professor of Eccesiastical History at Edinburgh University. more…

All Thomas Hardy poems | Thomas Hardy Books

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