Analysis of The Newcomer's Wife
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
He paused on the sill of a door ajar
That screened a lively liquor-bar,
For the name had reached him through the door
Of her he had married the week before.
'We called her the Hack of the Parade;
But she was discreet in the games she played;
If slightly worn, she's pretty yet,
And gossips, after all, forget.
'And he knows nothing of her past;
I am glad the girls in luck at last;
Such ones, though stale to native eyes,
Newcomers snatch at as a prize.'
'Yes, being a stranger he sees her blent
Of all that's fresh and innocent,
Nor dreams how many a love-campaign
She had enjoyed before his reign!'
That night there was the splash of a fall
Over the slimy harbour-wall:
They searched, and at the deepest place
Found him with crabs upon his face.
Scheme | AABB CCDD EEFF CXGG HHII |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 1110110101 11010101 101111101 1011100101 110011001 1110100111 11011101 01010101 01110101 111010111 11111101 1011101 1100101101 11110100 111100101 11010111 111101101 10010101 11010101 11110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 736 |
Words | 145 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 115 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 28 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 27, 2023
- 43 sec read
- 176 Views
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