Analysis of I Was Not He

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



I was not he-the man
Who used to pilgrim to your gate,
At whose smart step you grew elate,
And rosed, as maidens can,
For a brief span.

It was not I who sang
Beside the keys you touched so true
With note-bent eyes, as if with you
It counted not whence sprang
The voice that rang . . .

Yet though my destiny
It was to miss your early sweet,
You still, when turned to you my feet,
Had sweet enough to be
A prize for me!


Scheme ABBAA CDDCC EFFEE
Poetic Form
Metre 111101 11110111 11111101 011101 1011 111111 01011111 11111111 110111 0111 111100 11111101 11111111 110111 0111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 411
Words 87
Sentences 6
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5
Lines Amount 15
Letters per line (avg) 21
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 105
Words per stanza (avg) 29
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 30, 2023

26 sec read
484

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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