In a Museum

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



I

Here's the mould of a musical bird long passed from light,
Which over the earth before man came was winging;
There's a contralto voice I heard last night,
That lodges with me still in its sweet singing.

II

Such a dream is Time that the coo of this ancient bird
Has perished not, but is blent, or will be blending
Mid visionless wilds of space with the voice that I heard,
In the full-fuged song of the universe unending.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

25 sec read
441

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CBCB
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 427
Words 82
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 4, 4

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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