The Pity Of It

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



I walked in loamy Wessex lanes, afar
From rail-track and from highway, and I heard
In field and farmstead many an ancient word
Of local lineage like "Thu bist," "Er war,"
"Ich woll," "Er sholl," and by-talk similar,
Nigh as they speak who in this month's moon gird
At England's very loins, thereunto spurred
By gangs whose glory threats and slaughters are.

Then seemed a Heart crying: "Whosoever they be
At root and bottom of this, who flung this flame
Between kin folk kin tongued even as are we,
Sinister, ugly, lurid, be their fame;
May their familiars grow to shun their name,
And their brood perish everlastingly."

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
100

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBXXBBA CDCDDX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 615
Words 115
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 6

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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