Analysis of A Wife in London (December, 1899)
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
She sits in the tawny vapour
That the City lanes have uprolled,
Behind whose webby fold on fold
Like a waning taper
The street-lamp glimmers cold.
A messenger's knock cracks smartly,
Flashed news is in her hand
Of meaning it dazes to understand
Though shaped so shortly:
He--has fallen--in the far South Land . . .
'Tis the morrow; the fog hangs thicker,
The postman nears and goes:
A letter is brought whose lines disclose
By the firelight flicker
His hand, whom the worm now knows:
Fresh--firm--penned in highest feather -
Page-full of his hoped return,
And of home-planned jaunts by brake and burn
In the summer weather,
And of new love that they would learn.
Scheme | ABBAB CBBCB ADDAD AEEAE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (35%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1100101 1010111 0111111 101010 011101 011110 111001 11011101 11110 111000111 101001110 010101 010111101 10110 1110111 11101010 1111101 011111101 001010 01111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 735 |
Words | 119 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 130 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 29 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 172 Views
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"A Wife in London (December, 1899)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/36315/a-wife-in-london-%28december%2C-1899%29>.
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