Analysis of Forever
Charles Stuart Calverley 1831 (Martley) – 1884
"Forever": 'tis a single word!
Our rude forefathers deemed it two:
Can you imagine so absurd
A view?
"Forever"! What abysms of woe
The word reveals, what frenzy, what
Despair! "For ever" (printed so)
Did not.
It looks, ah me! how trite and tame!
It fails to sadden or appal
Or solace--it is not the same
At all.
O thou to whom it first occurred
To solder the disjoined, and dower
The native language with a word
Of power:
We bless thee! Whether far or near
Thy dwelling, whether dark or fair
Thy kingly brow, is neither here
Nor there.
But in men's hearts shall be thy throne,
While the great pulse of England beats.
Thou coiner of a word unknown
To Keats!
And nevermore must printer do
As men did long ago; but run
"For" into "ever," bidding two
Be one.
"Forever"! passion-fraught, it throws
O'er the dim page a gloom, a glamour:
It's sweet, it's strange; and I suppose
It's grammar.
"Forever"! 'Tis a single word!
And yet our fathers deemed it two:
Nor am I confident they erred;
Are you?
Scheme | Abab cxcx dede axaf xgxg hihi bjbj kfkf Abxb |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (78%) |
Metre | 01010101 10110111 11010101 01 0101111 01011101 01110101 11 11111101 1111011 11011101 11 11111101 1100101 01010101 110 11110111 11010111 11011101 11 10111111 10111101 11010101 11 0101101 11110111 10110101 11 01010111 1001101010 11110101 110 01010101 011010111 11110011 11 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,070 |
Words | 186 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 9 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 83 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 20 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 57 sec read
- 55 Views
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"Forever" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/5449/forever>.
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