"Good, to Forgive"
Good, to forgive;Best, to forget!Living, we fret;Dying, we live.Fretless and free,Soul, clap thy pinion!Earth have dominion,Body, o'er thee!
Wander at will,Day after day--Wander away,Wandering still--Soul that canst soar!Body may slumber:Body shall cumberSoul-flight no more.
Waft of soul's wing!What lies above?Sunshine and Love,Skyblue and Spring!Body hides--where?Ferns of all feather,Mosses and heather.Yours be the care!
Words in this poem
- pinion n.
- A moth of the genus Lithophane, as L. antennata, whose larva bores large holes in young peaches and apples.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- cumber n.
- Trouble; embarrassment; distress. [Cf. encombre hindrance, impediment. See Cuber,v.]
- waft v. t.
- To give notice to by waving something; to wave the hand to; to beckon. [Prob. originally imp. & p. p. of wave, v. t. See Wave to waver.]
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
"Good, to Forgive" is in the public domain. This text is taken from Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning, Project Gutenberg ebook #28041; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Browning, "Good, to Forgive", in Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning (1864), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #28041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/browning-selections/good-to-forgive.html, id L25122.
Form and metre
"Good, to Forgive" is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBACDDC.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABBACDDC forgiveA · forgetB · fretB · liveA · freeC · pinionD · dominionD · theeC
- 2 ABBACDDC willA · dayB · awayB · stillA · soarC · slumberD · cumberD · moreC
- 3 ABBACDDC wingA · aboveB · loveB · springA · whereC · featherD · heatherD · careC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Good, to forgive; | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Best, to forget! | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Living, we fret; | 4 | /˘·· |
| Dying, we live. | 4 | /˘·· |
| Fretless and free, | 4 | ···· |
| Soul, clap thy pinion! | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Earth have dominion, | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Body, o'er thee! | 4 | /˘·· |
| Wander at will, | 4 | /˘·· |
| Day after day-- | 4 | ···· |
| Wander away, | 4 | /˘˘/ |
| Wandering still-- | 4 | /˘˘· |
| Soul that canst soar! | 4 | ···· |
| Body may slumber: | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Body shall cumber | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Soul-flight no more. | 4 | ···· |
| Waft of soul's wing! | 4 | ···· |
| What lies above? | 4 | ···· |
| Sunshine and Love, | 4 | /··· |
| Skyblue and Spring! | 4 | /˘·· |
| Body hides--where? | 4 | /˘·· |
| Ferns of all feather, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Mosses and heather. | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Yours be the care! | 4 | ···· |
On this poem
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.