“Where the Picnic Was” Summary

“Where the Picnic Was” Themes

• 

  Grief, Nostalgia, and the Brevity of Life

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• 

  Humanity and Nature

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Where the Picnic Was”

• Lines 1-5

  Where we made the fire
  In the summer time
  Of branch and briar
  On the hill to the sea,
  I slowly climb

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 6-9

  Through winter mire,
  And scan and trace
  The forsaken place
  Quite readily.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 10-13

  Now a cold wind blows,
  And the grass is gray,
  But the spot still shows
  As a burnt circle—aye,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 14-18

  And stick-ends, charred,
  Still strew the sward
  Whereon I stand,
  Last relic of the band
  Who came that day!

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 19-24

  Yes, I am here
  Just as last year,
  And the sea breathes brine
  From its strange straight line
  Up hither, the same
  As when we four came.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 25-30

  —But two have wandered far
  From this grassy rise
  Into urban roar
  Where no picnics are,
  And one—has shut her eyes
  For evermore.

  

  

  

  

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“Where the Picnic Was” Symbols

• 

  The Extinguished Fire

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• 

  Picnics

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“Where the Picnic Was” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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• Juxtaposition

  

  

  

  

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“Where the Picnic Was” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Briar
• Mire
• Scan and trace
• Aye
• Strew
• Sward
• Whereon
• Band
• Hither
• For evermore

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Where the Picnic Was”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Where the Picnic Was” Speaker

“Where the Picnic Was” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Where the Picnic Was”

More “Where the Picnic Was” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Poet's Life and Work — A short biography of Hardy at the Poetry Foundation.

  • Thomas, Emma, and the Elegies — Some background on the Thomas Hardy-Emma Gifford marriage and the poet's 1912-1913 elegies for his wife.

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to a reading of "Where the Picnic Was."

  • Hardy and the Victorian Era — Hardy lived into the age of modernism, but he was a product of Victorian England. Learn more about the era with which he's closely associated.

  • The Heart of Hardy — A BBC One documentary about Hardy's celebrated life and career.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Thomas Hardy

  • A Broken Appointment

  • Afterwards

  • At an Inn

  • At Castle Boterel

  • A Wife in London

  • Channel Firing

  • Drummer Hodge

  • Hap

  • He Never Expected Much

  • Neutral Tones

  • The Convergence of the Twain

  • The Darkling Thrush

  • The Man He Killed

  • The Oxen

  • The Ruined Maid

  • The Voice

  • Weathers