"I Cannot Forget with What Fervid Devotion"
I cannot forget with what fervid devotionI worshipped the vision of verse and of fame.Each gaze at the glories of earth, sky, and ocean,To my kindled emotions, was wind over flame.
And deep were my musings in life's early blossom,Mid the twilight of mountain groves wandering long;How thrilled my young veins, and how throbbed my full bosom,When o'er me descended the spirit of song.
'Mong the deep-cloven fells that for ages had listenedTo the rush of the pebble-paved river between,Where the kingfisher screamed and gray precipice glistened,All breathless with awe have I gazed on the scene;
Till I felt the dark power o'er my reveries stealing,From his throne in the depth of that stern solitude,And he breathed through my lips, in that tempest of feeling,Strains lofty or tender, though artless and rude.
Bright visions! I mixed with the world, and ye faded;No longer your pure rural worshipper now;In the haunts your continual presence pervaded,Ye shrink from the signet of care on my brow.
In the old mossy groves on the breast of the mountain,In deep lonely glens where the waters complain,By the shade of the rock, by the gush of the fountain,I seek your loved footsteps, but seek them in vain.
Oh, leave not, forlorn and for ever forsaken,Your pupil and victim to life and its tears!But sometimes return, and in mercy awakenThe glories ye showed to his earlier years.
Words in this poem
- fervid a.
- Very hot; burning; boiling. [L. fervidus, fr. fervere. See Fervent.]
- precipice n.
- A sudden or headlong fall. Fuller. [F. précipice, L. praecipitium, fr. praeceps, - cipitis, headlong; prae before + caput, capitis, the head. See Pre-, and Chief.]
- breathless a.
- Spent with labor or violent action; out of breath.
- signet n.
- A seal; especially, in England, the seal used by the sovereign in sealing private letters and grants that pass by bill under the sign manual; -- called also privy signet. [OF. signet a signet, F., a bookmark, dim. of signe. See Sign, n., and cf. Sennet.]
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
"I Cannot Forget with What Fervid Devotion" is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by William Cullen Bryant, Project Gutenberg ebook #16341; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Cullen Bryant, "I Cannot Forget with What Fervid Devotion", in Poems (1821–1876), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16341, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bryant-poems/i-cannot-forget-with-what-fervid-devotion.html, id L07290.
Form and metre
"I Cannot Forget with What Fervid Devotion" is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 7 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 79% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.6 syllables. 13 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic tetrameter.
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 ABAB devotionA · fameB · oceanA · flameB
- 2 -A-A blossom · longA · bosom · songA
- 3 ABAB listenedA · betweenB · glistenedA · sceneB
- 4 ABAB stealingA · solitudeB · feelingA · rudeB
- 5 ABAB fadedA · nowB · pervadedA · browB
- 6 ABAB mountainA · complainB · fountainA · vainB
- 7 ABAB forsakenA · tearsB · awakenA · yearsB
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. Read against anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I cannot forget with what fervid devotion | 12 | ·˘/˘/··/˘˘/˘ |
| I worshipped the vision of verse and of fame. | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| Each gaze at the glories of earth, sky, and ocean, | 11 | ····/˘····/ |
| To my kindled emotions, was wind over flame. | 11 | ··/˘/˘˘···· |
| And deep were my musings in life's early blossom, | 12 | ····/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Mid the twilight of mountain groves wandering long; | 11 | ··/··/˘·/˘· |
| How thrilled my young veins, and how throbbed my full bosom, | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| When o'er me descended the spirit of song. | 10 | ···˘/˘·/·· |
| 'Mong the deep-cloven fells that for ages had listened | 13 | ···/˘···/˘·/˘ |
| To the rush of the pebble-paved river between, | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| Where the kingfisher screamed and gray precipice glistened, | 12 | ··/·˘···/˘/˘ |
| All breathless with awe have I gazed on the scene; | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Till I felt the dark power o'er my reveries stealing, | 12 | ·····/··/˘/˘ |
| From his throne in the depth of that stern solitude, | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| And he breathed through my lips, in that tempest of feeling, | 13 | ········/˘·/˘ |
| Strains lofty or tender, though artless and rude. | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Bright visions! I mixed with the world, and ye faded; | 12 | ·/˘·······/˘ |
| No longer your pure rural worshipper now; | 11 | ·/˘··/˘···· |
| In the haunts your continual presence pervaded, | 12 | ····˘/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Ye shrink from the signet of care on my brow. | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| In the old mossy groves on the breast of the mountain, | 13 | ···/˘······/˘ |
| In deep lonely glens where the waters complain, | 11 | ··/˘···/˘˘/ |
| By the shade of the rock, by the gush of the fountain, | 13 | ···········/˘ |
| I seek your loved footsteps, but seek them in vain. | 11 | ····/······ |
| Oh, leave not, forlorn and for ever forsaken, | 11 | ···˘/··/˘/˘ |
| Your pupil and victim to life and its tears! | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| But sometimes return, and in mercy awaken | 12 | ·˘/˘/··/˘˘/˘ |
| The glories ye showed to his earlier years. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
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.