Analysis of A Broken Appointment

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



You did not come,
And marching Time drew on, and wore me numb.
Yet less for loss of your dear presence there
Than that I thus found lacking in your make
That high compassion which can overbear
Reluctance for pure lovingkindness' sake
Grieved I, when, as the hope-hour stroked its sum,
You did not come.

You love not me,
And love alone can lend you loyalty;
-I know and knew it. But, unto the store
Of human deeds divine in all but name,
Was it not worth a little hour or more
To add yet this: Once you, a woman, came
To soothe a time-torn man; even though it be
You love not me.


Scheme AabcbcaA DdefefdD
Poetic Form
Metre 1111 0101110111 1111111101 1111110011 11010111 0101111 11110110111 1111 1111 0101111100 1101111001 1101010111 11110101011 1111110101 11011110111 1111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 572
Words 116
Sentences 5
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 8
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 222
Words per stanza (avg) 57
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
262

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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