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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AT THE WICKET-GATE by THOMAS HARDY

Poet Analysis

First Line: THERE FLOATED THE SOUNDS OF CHURCH-CHIMING
Last Line: AS THENCE WE WITHDREW.
Subject(s): ABSENCE; SEPARATION; ISOLATION;
THERE floated the sounds of church-chiming,
But no one was nigh,
Till there came, as a break in the loneness,
Her father, she, I.
And we slowly moved on to the wicket,
And downlooking stood,
Till anon people passed, and amid them
We parted for good.

Greater, wiser, may part there than we three
Who parted there then,
But never will Fates colder-featured
Hold sway there again.
Of the churchgoers through the still meadows
No single one knew
What a play was played under their eyes there
As thence we withdrew.



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