Analysis of The Satin Shoes
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
'If ever I walk to church to wed,
As other maidens use,
And face the gathered eyes,' she said,
'I'll go in satin shoes!'
She was as fair as early day
Shining on meads unmown,
And her sweet syllables seemed to play
Like flute-notes softly blown.
The time arrived when it was meet
That she should be a bride;
The satin shoes were on her feet,
Her father was at her side.
They stood within the dairy door,
And gazed across the green;
The church loomed on the distant moor,
But rain was thick between.
'The grass-path hardly can be stepped.
The lane is like a pool!' -
Her dream is shown to be inept,
Her wish they overrule.
'To go forth shod in satin soft
A coach would be required!'
For thickest boots the shoes were doffed -
Those shoes her soul desired….
All day the bride, as overborne,
Was seen to brood apart,
And that the shoes had not been worn
Sat heavy on her heart.
From her wrecked dream, as months flew on,
Her thought seemed not to range.
'What ails the wife?' they said anon,
'That she should be so strange?'…
Ah - what coach comes with furtive glide -
A coach of closed-up kind?
It comes to fetch the last year's bride,
Who wanders in her mind.
She strove with them, and fearfully ran
Stairward with one low scream:
'Nay - coax her,' said the madhouse man,
'With some old household theme.'
'If you will go, dear, you must fain
Put on those shoes - the pair
For your marriage, which the rain
Forbade you then to wear.'
She clapped her hands, flushed joyous hues;
'O yes - I'll up and ride
If I am to wear my satin shoes
And be a proper bride!'
Out then her little foot held she,
As to depart with speed;
The madhouse man smiled pleasantly
To see the wile succeed.
She turned to him when all was done,
And gave him her thin hand,
Exclaiming like an enraptured one,
'This time it will be grand!'
She mounted with a face elate,
Shut was the carriage door;
They drove her to the madhouse gate,
And she was seen no more….
Yet she was fair as early day
Shining on meads unmown,
And her sweet syllables seemed to play
Like flute-notes softly blown.
Scheme | axab cDCD efef gdxd hihi xjaj dkdk dldl fmfm dndn dodo bfbf pqpq drdr sgsg cDCD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (94%) |
Metre | 110111111 110101 01010111 110101 11111101 10111 001100111 111101 01011111 111101 01010101 0101101 11010101 010101 01110101 111101 01110111 011101 01111101 01110 11110101 0111010 11010101 1101010 110111 111101 01011111 110101 10111111 011111 1101111 111111 11111101 011111 11110111 110001 1111011 11111 1101011 11111 11111111 111101 1110101 011111 11011101 111101 111111101 010101 11010111 110111 0111100 110101 11111111 011011 010110101 111111 11010101 110101 1101011 011111 11111101 10111 001100111 111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,004 |
Words | 406 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 16 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 64 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 98 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:59 min read
- 144 Views
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