Analysis of The Impercipient

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



(at a Cathedral Service)

THAT from this bright believing band
        An outcast I should be,
     That faiths by which my comrades stand
        Seem fantasies to me,
     And mirage-mists their Shining Land,
        Is a drear destiny.

Why thus my soul should be consigned
        To infelicity,
     Why always I must feel as blind
        To sights my brethren see,
     Why joys they've found I cannot find,
        Abides a mystery.

Since heart of mine knows not that ease
        Which they know; since it be
     That He who breathes All's Well to these
        Breathes no All's Well to me,
     My lack might move their sympathies
        And Christian charity!

I am like a gazer who should mark
        An inland company
     Standing upfingered, with, "Hark! hark!
        The glorious distant sea!"
     And feel, "Alas, 'tis but yon dark
        And wind-swept pine to me!"

Yet I would bear my shortcomings
        With meet tranquillity,
     But for the charge that blessed things
        I'd liefer have unbe.

O, doth a bird deprived of wings
        Go earth-bound wilfully!
          .     .     .     .
     Enough. As yet disquiet clings
        About us. Rest shall we.


Scheme X ABABAB CACBCB DBDBDB EBEBEB FAFB FB FB
Poetic Form
Metre 1001010 11110101 11111 1111111 110011 00111101 101100 11111101 11 1111111 111101 11111101 010100 11111111 111111 11111111 111111 11111100 010100 11101111 11100 101111 0100101 01011111 011111 1111110 111 1101111 11011 11010111 111100 1 01110101 011111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,196
Words 179
Sentences 17
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 1, 6, 6, 6, 6, 4, 5
Lines Amount 34
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 110
Words per stanza (avg) 27
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 04, 2023

54 sec read
384

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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