Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SLOW NATURE (AN INCIDENT OF FROOM VALLEY), by THOMAS HARDY Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Thy husband - poor, poor heart! - is dead! Last Line: And laughed in his ancient way. | ||||||||
"THY husband -- poor, poor Heart! -- is dead -- Dead, out by Moreford Rise; A bull escaped the barton-shed, Gored him, and there he lies!" -- "Ha, ha -- go away! 'Tis a tale, methink, Thou joker Kit!" laughed she. "I've known thee many a year, Kit Twink, And ever hast thou fooled me!" -- "But, Mistress Damon -- I can swear Thy goodman John is dead! And soon th'lt hear their feet who bear His body to his bed." So unwontedly sad was the merry man's face -- That face which had long deceived -- That she gazed and gazed; and then could trace The truth there; and she believed. She laid a hand on the dresser-ledge, And scanned far Egdon-side; And stood; and you heard the wind-swept sedge And the rippling Froom; till she cried: "O my chamber's untidied, unmade my bed, Though the day has begun to wear! 'What a slovenly hussif!' it will be said, When they all go up my stair!" She disappeared; and the joker stood Depressed by his neighbor's doom, And amazed that a wife struck to widowhood Thought first of her unkempt room. But a fortnight thence she could take no food, And she pined in a slow decay; While Kit soon lost his mournful mood And laughed in his ancient way. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MEN WHO MARCH AWAY' (SONG OF THE SOLDIERS) by THOMAS HARDY A BROKEN APPOINTMENT by THOMAS HARDY A CHRISTMAS GHOST-STORY; CHRISTMAS-EVE 1899 by THOMAS HARDY A THOUGHT IN TWO MOODS by THOMAS HARDY A THUNDERSTORM IN TOWN by THOMAS HARDY A TRAMPWOMAN'S TRAGEDY by THOMAS HARDY A WIFE IN LONDON by THOMAS HARDY ACCORDING TO THE MIGHTY WORKING by THOMAS HARDY |
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