Analysis of The Ghost of the Past
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
We two kept house, the Past and I,
The Past and I;
I tended while it hovered nigh,
Leaving me never alone.
It was a spectral housekeeping
Where fell no jarring tone,
As strange, as still a housekeeping
As ever has been known.
As daily I went up the stair,
And down the stair,
I did not mind the Bygone there --
The Present once to me;
Its moving meek companionship
I wished might ever be,
There was in that companionship
Something of ecstasy.
It dwelt with me just as it was,
Just as it was
When first its prospects gave me pause
In wayward wanderings,
Before the years had torn old troths
As they tear all sweet things,
Before gaunt griefs had torn old troths
And dulled old rapturings.
And then its form began to fade,
Began to fade,
Its gentle echoes faintlier played
At eves upon my ear
Than when the autumn's look embrowned
The lonely chambers here,
The autumn's settling shades embrowned
Nooks that it haunted near.
And so with time my vision less,
Yea, less and less
Makes of that Past my housemistress,
It dwindles in my eye;
It looms a far-off skeleton
And not a comrade nigh,
A fitful far-off skeleton
Dimming as days draw by.
Scheme | AAABCBCB DDDEFEFE GGXHGHGG IIIJIJIX KKGALALA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (33%) Tetractys (23%) |
Metre | 11110101 0101 11011101 1011001 110110 111101 1111010 110111 11011101 0101 1111011 010111 1101010 111101 1101010 101100 11111111 1111 11110111 010100 01011111 111111 01111111 0111 01110111 0111 1101011 110111 1101011 010101 01010011 111101 01111101 1101 111111 110011 11011100 01011 01011100 101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,105 |
Words | 213 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 179 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 1:04 min read
- 138 Views
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