At Lulworth Cove a Century Back
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
Had I but lived a hundred years ago
I might have gone, as I have gone this year,
By Warmwell Cross on to a Cove I know,
And Time have placed his finger on me there:
"You see that man?" -- I might have looked, and said,
"O yes: I see him. One that boat has brought
Which dropped down Channel round Saint Alban's Head.
So commonplace a youth calls not my thought."
"You see that man?" -- "Why yes; I told you; yes:
Of an idling town-sort; thin; hair brown in hue;
And as the evening light scants less and less
He looks up at a star, as many do."
"You see that man?" -- "Nay, leave me!" then I plead,
"I have fifteen miles to vamp across the lea,
And it grows dark, and I am weary-kneed:
I have said the third time; yes, that man I see!"
"Good. That man goes to Rome -- to death, despair;
And no one notes him now but you and I:
A hundred years, and the world will follow him there,
And bend with reverence where his ashes lie."
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 15, 2023
- 57 sec read
- 161 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AXAB CDCD EFEF GHGH BIBI |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 914 |
Words | 198 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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"At Lulworth Cove a Century Back" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/36337/at-lulworth-cove-a-century-back>.
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