The Problem

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



Shall we conceal the Case, or tell it -
   We who believe the evidence?
   Here and there the watch-towers knell it
   With a sullen significance,
Heard of the few who hearken intently and carry an eagerly upstrained
sense.

   Hearts that are happiest hold not by it;
   Better we let, then, the old view reign;
   Since there is peace in it, why decry it?
   Since there is comfort, why disdain?
Note not the pigment the while that the painting determines
humanity's joy and pain!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

25 sec read
143

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABAX ACACXC
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 489
Words 85
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 6, 6

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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    Who wrote the poem ״Invictus״?
    A Oscar Wilde
    B William Ernest Henley
    C Thomas Hardy
    D Sylvia Plath