I found her out there – by Thomas Hardy

 

I found her out there          -a

On a slope few see,             -b

That falls westwardly        -c

To the salt-edged air,         -a

Where the ocean breaks   -d

On the purple strand[M1] ,         -e

And the hurricane shakes -d

The solid land.                     –e

 

1.     Where did the poetic persona find the body of the dead girl?

 

I brought her here,               f

And have laid her to rest[M2]      g

In a noiseless nest[M3]                  g

No sea beats near.                 f

She will never be stirred      h

In her loamy cell  [M4]                   i

By the waves long heard      h

And loved so well.                 i

      

2.     What kind of a place did he bury her?

3.     What is implied by the phrase “loamy cell”?

 

So she does not sleep[M5]                   j

By those haunted heights           k

The Atlantic smites                      k

And the blind gales sweep,         j

Whence she often would gaze   l

At Dundagel's famed head,        m

While the dipping blaze               l

Dyed her face fire-red;                 [M6] m

 

4.     Where does the girl want to ‘sleep’?

5.     Why did she want to ‘sleep’ there?

6.     What is meant by the “dipping blaze”?

 

And would sigh at the tale          n

Of sunk Lyonesse,                         o

As a wind-tugged tress                 o

Flapped her cheek like a flail[M7]       n

Or listen at whiles                         p

With a thought-bound brow       q

To the murmuring[M8]  miles              p

She is far from now.                      Q

 

7.     What else had the girl done while standing on the heights when she was alive?

8.     Give an example for the following in this stanza:

a.      Assonance:

b.     Alliteration:

c.      Onomatopoeia:

d.     Simile:

 

Yet her shade, maybe,                   b

Will creep underground                r

Till it catch the sound                    r

Of that western sea                        b

As it swells and sobs                      s

Where she once domiciled,[M9]           t

And joy in its throbs                      s

With the heart of a child.              t

9.     What would the shade of the girl do?

10.  Why would the shade do that?

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 [M1]beach

 [M2]euphemism – instead of saying buried, the poet is using the term “laid her to rest”

 [M3]euphemism: a noiseless nest = grave

 [M4]euphemism: her grave is a cell – a place of imprisonment

 [M5]euphemism: sleep – lie buried

 [M6]visual image

 [M7]visual image

 [M8]onomatopoeia

 [M9]live