Forsaken
The word is said, and I no more shall knowAught of the changing story of her days,Nor any treasure that her lips bestow.
And I, who loving her was wont to praiseAll things in love, now reft of music goWith silent step down unfrequented ways.
My soul is like a lonely market-place,Where late were laughing folk and shining steedsAnd many things of comeliness and grace;
And now between the stones are twisting weeds,No sound there is, nor any friendly face,Save for a bedesman telling o’er his beads.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- reft n.
- A chink; a rift. See Rift. Rom. of R.
- unfrequented a.
- Rarely visited; seldom or never resorted to by human beings; as, an unfrequented place or forest. [Pref. un- + frequented.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- bedesman n.
- A poor man, supported in a beadhouse, and required to pray for the soul of its founder; an almsman.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Forsaken is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, 1908-1919, Project Gutenberg ebook #51575; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Drinkwater, Forsaken, in Poems, 1908-1919 (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51575, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drinkwater-poems/forsaken.html, id L23067.
Form and metre
Forsaken is 12 lines in 4 stanzas of 3 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABA knowA · daysB · bestowA
- 2 BAB praiseB · goA · waysB
- 3 CDC placeC · steedsD · graceC
- 4 DCD weedsD · faceC · beadsD
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 iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The word is said, and I no more shall know | 10 | ·········· |
| Aught of the changing story of her days, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Nor any treasure that her lips bestow. | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| And I, who loving her was wont to praise | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| All things in love, now reft of music go | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With silent step down unfrequented ways. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| My soul is like a lonely market-place, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Where late were laughing folk and shining steeds | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And many things of comeliness and grace; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| And now between the stones are twisting weeds, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| No sound there is, nor any friendly face, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Save for a bedesman telling o’er his beads. | 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.