Analysis of Architectural Masks

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



There is a house with ivied walls,
And mullioned windows worn and old,
And the long dwellers in those halls
Have souls that know but sordid calls,
And dote on gold.

In a blazing brick and plated show
Not far away a 'villa' gleams,
And here a family few may know,
With book and pencil, viol and bow,
Lead inner lives of dreams.

The philosophic passers say,
'See that old mansion mossed and fair,
Poetic souls therein are they:
And O that gaudy box! Away,
You vulgar people there.'


Scheme ABAAB CDCXD EFEEF
Poetic Form
Metre 1101111 0110101 00110011 11111101 0111 001010101 11010101 010100111 11010101 110111 0010101 11110101 01010111 01110101 110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 491
Words 95
Sentences 5
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5
Lines Amount 15
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 124
Words per stanza (avg) 30
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 19, 2023

28 sec read
191

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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