Analysis of The Coronation
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
At Westminster, hid from the light of day,
Many who once had shone as monarchs lay.
Edward the Pious, and two Edwards more,
The second Richard, Henrys three or four;
That is to say, those who were called the Third,
Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth (the much self-widowered),
And James the Scot, and near him Charles the Second,
And, too, the second George could there be reckoned.
Of women, Mary and Queen Elizabeth,
And Anne, all silent in a musing death;
And Williams Mary, and Mary, Queen of Scots,
And consort-queens whose names oblivion blots;
And several more whose chronicle one sees
Adorning ancient royal pedigrees.
- Now, as they drowsed on, freed from Life's old thrall,
And heedless, save of things exceptional,
Said one: 'What means this throbbing thudding sound
That reaches to us here from overground;
'A sound of chisels, augers, planes, and saws,
Infringing all ecclesiastic laws?
'And these tons-weight of timber on us pressed,
Unfelt here since we entered into rest?
'Surely, at least to us, being corpses royal,
A meet repose is owing by the loyal?
'- Perhaps a scaffold!' Mary Stuart sighed,
'If such still be. It was that way I died.'
'- Ods! Far more like,' said he the many-wived,
'That for a wedding 'tis this works contrived.
'Ha-ha! I never would bow down to Rimmon,
But I had a rare time with those six women!'
'Not all at once?' gasped he who loved confession.
'Nay, nay!' said Hal. 'That would have been transgression.'
- They build a catafalque here, black and tall,
Perhaps,' mused Richard, 'for some funeral?'
And Anne chimed in: 'Ah, yes: it may be so!'
'Nay!' squeaked Eliza. 'Little you seem to know -
'Clearly 'tis for some crowning here in state,
As they crowned us at our long bygone date;
'Though we'd no such a power of carpentry,
But let the ancient architecture be;
'If I were up there where the parsons sit,
In one of my gold robes, I'd see to it!'
'But you are not,' Charles chuckled. 'You are here,
And never will know the sun again, my dear!'
'Yea,' whispered those whom no one had addressed;
'With slow, sad march, amid a folk distressed,
We were brought here, to take our dusty rest.
'And here, alas, in darkness laid below,
We'll wait and listen, and endure the show….
Clamour dogs kingship; afterwards not so!'
Scheme | AA BB XA CC XX DD EE FG XA HH II GG JJ AX KK KK FG LK MM NN OO XX III LLL |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 110110111 101111111 1001001101 010101111 1111110101 110010111 01010111010 01010111110 11010010100 0111000101 01010010111 00111101001 0101110011 0101010100 1111111111 011110100 111111011 11011111 0111010101 010100101 0111110111 111110011 101111101010 01011101010 0101010101 1111111111 1111110101 1101011101 1111011111 11101111110 11111111010 11111111010 11011101 0111011100 0110111111 11010101111 1011110101 1111110111 11110101100 110101001 1101110101 0111111111 1111110111 01011010111 1101111101 1111010101 10111110101 0101010101 1101000101 111010011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,216 |
Words | 416 |
Sentences | 29 |
Stanzas | 24 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3 |
Lines Amount | 50 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 71 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 17 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 2:01 min read
- 150 Views
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"The Coronation" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/36496/the-coronation>.
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