Analysis of Her Secret

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



That love's dull smart distressed my heart
He shrewdly learnt to see,
But that I was in love with a dead man
Never suspected he.

He searched for the trace of a pictured face,
He watched each missive come,
And a note that seemed like a love-line
Made him look frozen and glum.

He dogged my feet to the city street,
He followed me to the sea,
But not to the neighbouring churchyard
Did he dream of following me.


Scheme XAXA XBXB XAXA
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 11110111 110111 1111011011 100101 1110110101 111101 001111011 1111001 111110101 1101101 111011 11111001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 406
Words 81
Sentences 4
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 107
Words per stanza (avg) 26
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 28, 2023

24 sec read
411

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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