The Man Who Forgot
AT a lonely cross where bye-roads metI sat upon a gate;I saw the sun decline and set,And still was fain to wait.
A trotting boy passed up the wayAnd roused me from my thought;I called to him, and showed where layA spot I shyly sought.
“A summer-house fair stands hidden whereYou see the moonlight thrown;Go, tell me if within it thereA lady sits alone.”
He half demurred, but took the track,And silence held the scene;I saw his figure rambling back;I asked him if he had been.
“I went just where you said, but foundNo summer-house was there:Beyond the slope ’tis all bare ground;Nothing stands anywhere.
“A man asked what my brains were worth;The house, he said, grew rotten,And was pulled down before my birth,And is almost forgotten!”
My right mind woke, and I stood dumb;Forty years’ frost and flowerHad fleeted since I’d used to comeTo meet her in that bower.
Words in this poem
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- shyly adv.
- In a shy or timid manner; not familiarly; with reserve.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Man Who Forgot is in the public domain. This text is taken from Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #3255; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Hardy, The Man Who Forgot, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/the-man-who-forgot.html, id L24230.
Form and metre
The Man Who Forgot 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 common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 metA · gateB · setA · waitB
- 2 ABAB wayA · thoughtB · layA · soughtB
- 3 ABAB whereA · thrownB · thereA · aloneB
- 4 A-A- trackA · scene · backA · been
- 5 ABAB foundA · thereB · groundA · anywhereB
- 6 ABAB worthA · rottenB · birthA · forgottenB
- 7 ABAB dumbA · flowerB · comeA · bowerB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| AT a lonely cross where bye-roads met | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| I sat upon a gate; | 6 | ······ |
| I saw the sun decline and set, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And still was fain to wait. | 6 | ······ |
| A trotting boy passed up the way | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And roused me from my thought; | 6 | ······ |
| I called to him, and showed where lay | 8 | ········ |
| A spot I shyly sought. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| “A summer-house fair stands hidden where | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| You see the moonlight thrown; | 6 | ···/·· |
| Go, tell me if within it there | 8 | ········ |
| A lady sits alone.” | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| He half demurred, but took the track, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And silence held the scene; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| I saw his figure rambling back; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| I asked him if he had been. | 7 | ······· |
| “I went just where you said, but found | 8 | ········ |
| No summer-house was there: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Beyond the slope ’tis all bare ground; | 8 | ········ |
| Nothing stands anywhere. | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| “A man asked what my brains were worth; | 8 | ········ |
| The house, he said, grew rotten, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And was pulled down before my birth, | 8 | ········ |
| And is almost forgotten!” | 7 | ··/·˘/˘ |
| My right mind woke, and I stood dumb; | 8 | ········ |
| Forty years’ frost and flower | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| Had fleeted since I’d used to come | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To meet her in that bower. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
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.