On an Invitation to the United States.

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



My ardours for emprize nigh lost
Since Life has bared its bones to me,
I shrink to seek a modern coast
Whose riper times have yet to be;
Where the new regions claim them free
From that long drip of human tears
Which peoples old in tragedy
Have left upon the centuried years.

For, wonning in these ancient lands,
Enchased and lettered as a tomb,
And scored with prints of perished hands,
And chronicled with dates of doom,
Though my own Being bear no bloom
I trace the lives such scenes enshrine,
Give past exemplars present room,
And their experience count as mine.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 26, 2023

31 sec read
107

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXAAXAX BCBCCDCD
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 573
Words 105
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 8

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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    "On an Invitation to the United States." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/36442/on-an-invitation-to-the-united-states.>.

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