To An Orphan Child
Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)
A Whimsey
AH, child, thou art but half thy darling mother's;
Hers couldst thou wholly be,
My light in thee would outglow all in others;
She would relive to me.
But niggard Nature's trick of birth
Bars, lest she overjoy,
Renewal of the loved on earth
Save with alloy.
The Dame has no regard, alas, my maiden,
For love and loss like mine--
No sympathy with mind-sight memory-laden;
Only with fickle eyne.
To her mechanic artistry
My dreams are all unknown,
And why I wish that thou couldst be
But One's alone!
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 29 sec read
- 139 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABABCXCX DXDDBEBE |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 603 |
Words | 94 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8 |
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"To An Orphan Child" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/36597/to-an-orphan-child>.
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