Analysis of God's Funeral
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
I
I saw a slowly-stepping train --
Lined on the brows, scoop-eyed and bent and hoar --
Following in files across a twilit plain
A strange and mystic form the foremost bore.
II
And by contagious throbs of thought
Or latent knowledge that within me lay
And had already stirred me, I was wrought
To consciousness of sorrow even as they.
III
The fore-borne shape, to my blurred eyes,
At first seemed man-like, and anon to change
To an amorphous cloud of marvellous size,
At times endowed with wings of glorious range.
IV
And this phantasmal variousness
Ever possessed it as they drew along:
Yet throughout all it symboled none the less
Potency vast and loving-kindness strong.
V
Almost before I knew I bent
Towards the moving columns without a word;
They, growing in bulk and numbers as they went,
Struck out sick thoughts that could be overheard: --
VI
'O man-projected Figure, of late
Imaged as we, thy knell who shall survive?
Whence came it we were tempted to create
One whom we can no longer keep alive?
VII
'Framing him jealous, fierce, at first,
We gave him justice as the ages rolled,
Will to bless those by circumstance accurst,
And longsuffering, and mercies manifold.
VIII
'And, tricked by our own early dream
And need of solace, we grew self-deceived,
Our making soon our maker did we deem,
And what we had imagined we believed,
IX
'Till, in Time's stayless stealthy swing,
Uncompromising rude reality
Mangled the Monarch of our fashioning,
Who quavered, sank; and now has ceased to be.
X
'So, toward our myth's oblivion,
Darkling, and languid-lipped, we creep and grope
Sadlier than those who wept in Babylon,
Whose Zion was a still abiding hope.
XI
'How sweet it was in years far hied
To start the wheels of day with trustful prayer,
To lie down liegely at the eventide
And feel a blest assurance he was there!
XII
'And who or what shall fill his place?
Whither will wanderers turn distracted eyes
For some fixed star to stimulate their pace
Towards the goal of their enterprise?'...
XIII
Some in the background then I saw,
Sweet women, youths, men, all incredulous,
Who chimed as one: 'This is figure is of straw,
This requiem mockery! Still he lives to us!'
XIV
I could not prop their faith: and yet
Many I had known: with all I sympathized;
And though struck speechless, I did not forget
That what was mourned for, I, too, once had prized.
XV
Still, how to bear such loss I deemed
The insistent question for each animate mind,
And gazing, to my growing sight there seemed
A pale yet positive gleam low down behind,
XVI
Whereof, to lift the general night,
A certain few who stood aloof had said,
'See you upon the horizon that small light --
Swelling somewhat?' Each mourner shook his head.
XVII
And they composed a crowd of whom
Some were right good, and many nigh the best....
Thus dazed and puzzled 'twixt the gleam and gloom
Mechanically I followed with the rest.
Scheme | ABCBC ADEDE AFGFG HFIXI HJKJK ALHLH HXMDM HNONO FPQPQ XXRXR QDSDS FTFTF FUVUV HWXWX HYZYZ H1 2 1 2 H3 4 3 4 |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (21%) |
Metre | 1 11010101 1101110101 1000101011 010101011 1 01010111 1101010111 0101011111 11001101011 1 01111111 111110111 110101111 11011111001 1 0111 1001111101 101111101 1001010101 1 1011111 01010100101 11001010111 1111111101 1 110101011 111111101 1111010101 1111110101 1 10110111 1111010101 11111101 0101010 1 011101101 0111011101 101011010111 0111010101 1 1011101 01000110 1001110100 1101011111 1 1011010100 101011101 1001111010 1101010101 1 11110111 110111111 1111101 0101010111 1 01111111 10110010101 111111011 01011110 1 1001111 1101110100 11111110111 110010011111 1 11111101 1011111110 0111011101 1111111111 1 11111111 001010111001 0101110111 01110011101 1 11101001 0101110111 11010010111 1011110111 1 01010111 1011010101 1101010101 0100110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,210 |
Words | 517 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 17 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
Lines Amount | 85 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 133 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 01, 2023
- 2:34 min read
- 415 Views
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