The Rise and Fall of Meter

138 chapter 4

Nay. We see well what we are doing, 15

Though some may not see —

Dalliers as they be! —

England’s need are we;

Her distress would set us rueing :

Nay, We see well what we are doing, 20

Though some may not see!

In our heart of hearts believing

Victory crowns the just,

And that braggarts must

Surely bite the dust, 25

March we to the field ungrieving,

In our heart of hearts believing

Victory crowns the just.

Hence the faith and fire within us

Men who march away 30

Ere the barn-cocks say

Night is growing gray,

To hazards whence no tears can win us:

Hence the faith and fire within us

Men who march away. 35

This poem echoes popular sentiment in the lines, “England’s need are we” and
“March we to the field ungrieving, / In our heart of hearts believing / Victory
crowns the just,” yet these are the only lines in the poem that participate fully
in the regularized rhythms of wartime verses. The rest of the poem might be
described as metrically reticent. Perhaps, from Hardy’s vantage point, we
might read his slow, irregular meters as a sign of his own hesitation in partici-
pating in Newboltian poetic propaganda, as well as concern over the way that
militaristic meters had become the expected norm. Indeed, the poem is about
unevenness; with its seven-line stanzas and lurching near-ballad measure. In
the first stanza the march is halting, as if the soldier starts to march along to
the beat and then pauses three times at the end of each three-beat line. The first
stanza is the most rhythmically regular and the third is the most awkward:
“Nay. We see well what we are doing, / Though some may not see — / Dalliers
as they be! — / England’s need are we.” Whatever meter Hardy is employing
here, we are forced to believe that he knows what he is doing, because the line
“Nay. We see well what we are doing” seems to sprawl out to carry far more
than the four accents he set as his pattern earlier. As if to mask the four beats,
he adds a pause for punctuation after “Nay,” so that the line, to me at least,
seems to read “Nay. We see well what we are doing.” However, if you hurry