The Noble Lady's Tale Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDCC EFEFF GFG HIH JKJKK JLJLL CMCMM NNNNN OMOMF PQPQQ RSRSS NJNJJ FAFA IF FF TMTMM CUC IVIVV M MF CFCF JNJNN JNJNN RJRJJ WNWNN NGNGG TXTXX RYRYY YYYYY A JYJYY JZJZZ FJFJJ JYJYY JYJYY| I | A |
| - | |
| We moved with pensive paces | B |
| I and he | C |
| And bent our faded faces | D |
| Wistfully | C |
| For something troubled him and troubled me | C |
| - | |
| The lanthorn feebly lightened | E |
| Our grey hall | F |
| Where ancient brands had brightened | E |
| Hearth and wall | F |
| And shapes long vanished whither vanish all | F |
| - | |
| 'O why Love nightly daily ' | - |
| I had said | G |
| 'Dost sigh and smile so palely | F |
| As if shed | G |
| Were all Life's blossoms all its dear things dead ' | - |
| - | |
| 'Since silence sets thee grieving ' | - |
| He replied | H |
| 'And I abhor deceiving | I |
| One so tried | H |
| Why Love I'll speak ere time us twain divide ' | - |
| - | |
| He held me I remember | J |
| Just as when | K |
| Our life was June September | J |
| It was then | K |
| And we walked on until he spoke again | K |
| - | |
| 'Susie an Irish mummer | J |
| Loud acclaimed | L |
| Through the gay London summer | J |
| Was I named | L |
| A master in my art who would be famed | L |
| - | |
| 'But lo there beamed before me | C |
| Lady Su | M |
| God's altar vow she swore me | C |
| When none knew | M |
| And for her sake I bade the sock adieu | M |
| - | |
| 'My Lord your father's pardon | N |
| Thus I won | N |
| He let his heart unharden | N |
| Towards his son | N |
| And honourably condoned what we had done | N |
| - | |
| 'But said recall you dearest | O |
| As for Su | M |
| I'd see her ay though nearest | O |
| Me unto | M |
| Sooner entombed than in a stage purlieu | F |
| - | |
| 'Just so And here he housed us | P |
| In this nook | Q |
| Where Love like balm has drowsed us | P |
| Robin rook | Q |
| Our chief familiars next to string and book | Q |
| - | |
| 'Our days here peace enshrouded | R |
| Followed strange | S |
| The old stage joyance crowded | R |
| Rich in range | S |
| But never did my soul desire a change | S |
| - | |
| 'Till now when far uncertain | N |
| Lips of yore | J |
| Call call me to the curtain | N |
| There once more | J |
| But ONCE to tread the boards I trod before | J |
| - | |
| 'A night the last and single | F |
| Ere I die | A |
| To face the lights to mingle | F |
| As did I | A |
| Once in the game and rivet every eye ' | - |
| - | |
| 'To something drear distressing | I |
| As the knell | F |
| Of all hopes worth possessing ' | - |
| What befell | F |
| Seemed linked with me but how I could not tell | F |
| - | |
| Hours passed till I implored him | T |
| As he knew | M |
| How faith and frankness toward him | T |
| Ruled me through | M |
| To say what ill I had done and could undo | M |
| - | |
| 'FAITH FRANKNESS Ah Heaven save such ' | - |
| Murmured he | C |
| 'They are wedded wealth I gave such | U |
| Liberally | C |
| But you Dear not For you suspected me ' | - |
| - | |
| I was about beseeching | I |
| In hurt haste | V |
| More meaning when he reaching | I |
| To my waist | V |
| Led me to pace the hall as once we paced | V |
| - | |
| 'I never meant to draw you | M |
| To own all ' | - |
| Declared he 'But I SAW you | M |
| By the wall | F |
| Half hid And that was why I failed withal ' | - |
| - | |
| 'Where when ' said I 'Why nigh me | C |
| At the play | F |
| That night That you should spy me | C |
| Doubt my fay | F |
| And follow furtive took my heart away ' | - |
| - | |
| That I had never been there | J |
| But had gone | N |
| To my locked room unseen there | J |
| Curtains drawn | N |
| Long days abiding told I wonder wan | N |
| - | |
| 'Nay 'twas your form and vesture | J |
| Cloak and gown | N |
| Your hooded features gesture | J |
| Half in frown | N |
| That faced me pale ' he urged 'that night in town | N |
| - | |
| 'And when outside I handed | R |
| To her chair | J |
| As courtesy demanded | R |
| Of me there | J |
| The leading lady you peeped from the stair | J |
| - | |
| Straight pleaded I 'Forsooth Love | W |
| Had I gone | N |
| I must have been in truth Love | W |
| Mad to don | N |
| Such well known raiment ' But he still went on | N |
| - | |
| That he was not mistaken | N |
| Nor misled | G |
| I felt like one forsaken | N |
| Wished me dead | G |
| That he could think thus of the wife he had wed | G |
| - | |
| His going seemed to waste him | T |
| Like a curse | X |
| To wreck what once had graced him | T |
| And averse | X |
| To my approach he mused and moped and worse | X |
| - | |
| Till what no words effected | R |
| Thought achieved | Y |
| IT WAS MY WRAITH projected | R |
| He conceived | Y |
| Thither by my tense brain at home aggrieved | Y |
| - | |
| Thereon his credence centred | Y |
| Till he died | Y |
| And no more tempted entered | Y |
| Sanctified | Y |
| The little vault with room for one beside | Y |
| - | |
| III | A |
| - | |
| Thus far the lady's story | J |
| Now she too | Y |
| Reclines within that hoary | J |
| Last dark mew | Y |
| In Mellstock Quire with him she loved so true | Y |
| - | |
| A yellowing marble placed there | J |
| Tablet wise | Z |
| And two joined hearts enchased there | J |
| Meet the eyes | Z |
| And reading their twin names we moralize | Z |
| - | |
| Did she we wonder follow | F |
| Jealously | J |
| And were those protests hollow | F |
| Or saw he | J |
| Some semblant dame Or can wraiths really be | J |
| - | |
| Were it she went her honour | J |
| All may hold | Y |
| Pressed truth at last upon her | J |
| Till she told | Y |
| Him only others as these lines unfold | Y |
| - | |
| Riddle death sealed for ever | J |
| Let it rest | Y |
| One's heart could blame her never | J |
| If one guessed | Y |
| That go she did She knew her actor best | Y |
Thomas Hardy
(1)
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About The Noble Lady's Tale
The Noble Lady's Tale is a poem by Thomas Hardy. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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