Analysis of The Cheval-Glass
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
Why do you harbour that great cheval-glass
Filling up your narrow room?
You never preen or plume,
Or look in a week at your full-length figure -
Picture of bachelor gloom!
'Well, when I dwelt in ancient England,
Renting the valley farm,
Thoughtless of all heart-harm,
I used to gaze at the parson's daughter,
A creature of nameless charm.
'Thither there came a lover and won her,
Carried her off from my View.
O it was then I knew
Misery of a cast undreamt of -
More than, indeed, my due!
'Then far rumours of her ill-usage
Came, like a chilling breath
When a man languisheth;
Followed by news that her mind lost balance,
And, in a space, of her death.
'Soon sank her father; and next was the auction -
Everything to be sold:
Mid things new and old
Stood this glass in her former chamber,
Long in her use, I was told.
'Well, I awaited the sale and bought it….
There by my bed it stands,
And as the dawn expands
Often I see her pale-faced form there
Brushing her hairs bright bands.
'There, too, at pallid midnight moments
Quick she will come to my call,
Smile from the frame withal
Ponderingly, as she used to regard me
Passing her father's wall.
'So that it was for it's revelations
I brought it oversea,
And drag it about with me….
Anon I shall break it and bury its, fragments
Where my grave is to be.
Scheme | XAABA XCCBC BDDXD XEEXE XFFBF XGGXG HIIJI XJJHJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (28%) Tetractys (23%) |
Metre | 111101111 1011101 110111 11001111110 1011001 111101010 100101 101111 111110110 0101101 111010010 1001111 111111 10010111 110111 11010110 110101 1011 1011101110 0001101 11010011010 10111 11101 111001010 1001111 1101001011 111111 010101 101101111 100111 11110110 1111111 11011 11111011 100101 111111010 11101 0110111 11111010110 111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,277 |
Words | 248 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 125 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 103 Views
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