Forever
I had not known beforeForever was so long a word.The slow stroke of the clock of timeI had not heard.
'Tis hard to learn so late;It seems no sad heart really learns,But hopes and trusts and doubts and fears,And bleeds and burns.
The night is not all dark,Nor is the day all it seems,But each may bring me this relief--My dreams and dreams.
I had not known beforeThat Never was so sad a word,So wrap me in forgetfulness--I have not heard.
About this text
Forever is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Project Gutenberg ebook #18338; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Paul Laurence Dunbar, Forever, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/forever.html, id L00816.
Form and metre
Forever is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.4 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 -A-A before · wordA · time · heardA
- 2 -A-A late · learnsA · fears · burnsA
- 3 -A-A dark · seemsA · relief · dreamsA
- 4 -A-A before · wordA · forgetfulness · heardA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I had not known before | 6 | ······ |
| Forever was so long a word. | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| The slow stroke of the clock of time | 8 | ········ |
| I had not heard. | 4 | ···· |
| 'Tis hard to learn so late; | 6 | ······ |
| It seems no sad heart really learns, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But hopes and trusts and doubts and fears, | 8 | ········ |
| And bleeds and burns. | 4 | ···· |
| The night is not all dark, | 6 | ······ |
| Nor is the day all it seems, | 7 | ······· |
| But each may bring me this relief-- | 8 | ······˘/ |
| My dreams and dreams. | 4 | ···· |
| I had not known before | 6 | ······ |
| That Never was so sad a word, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| So wrap me in forgetfulness-- | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| I have not heard. | 4 | ···· |
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.