“You Were the Sort That Men Forget”
YOU were the sort that men forget;Though I—not yet!—Perhaps not ever. Your slighted weaknessAdds to the strength of my regret!
You’d not the art—you never hadFor good or bad—To make men see how sweet your meaning,Which, visible, had charmed them glad.
You would, by words inept let fall,Offend them all,Even if they saw your warm devotionWould hold your life’s blood at their call.
You lacked the eye to understandThose friends offhandWhose mode was crude, though whose dim purportOutpriced the courtesies of the bland.
I am now the only being whoRemembers youIt may be. What a waste that NatureGrudged soul so dear the art its due!
Words in this poem
- inept a.
- Not apt or fit; unfit; unsuitable; improper; unbecoming. [L. ineptus; prefix. in- not + aptus apt, fit: cf. F. inepte. Cf. Inapt.]
- purport n.
- Design or tendency; meaning; import; tenor. [OF. purport; pur, pour, for (L. pro) + porter to bear, carry. See Port demeanor.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
“You Were the Sort That Men Forget” 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, “You Were the Sort That Men Forget”, in Moments of Vision and Miscellaneous Verses (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3255, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-moments-of-vision/you-were-the-sort-that-men-forget.html, id L24111.
Form and metre
“You Were the Sort That Men Forget” is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AA-A forgetA · yetA · weakness · regretA
- 2 AA-A hadA · badA · meaning · gladA
- 3 AA-A fallA · allA · devotion · callA
- 4 AA-A understandA · offhandA · purport · blandA
- 5 AA-A whoA · youA · nature · dueA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| YOU were the sort that men forget; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Though I—not yet!— | 4 | ···· |
| Perhaps not ever. Your slighted weakness | 9 | ˘/·/·/˘/˘ |
| Adds to the strength of my regret! | 8 | ······˘/ |
| You’d not the art—you never had | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| For good or bad— | 4 | ···· |
| To make men see how sweet your meaning, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Which, visible, had charmed them glad. | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| You would, by words inept let fall, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| Offend them all, | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Even if they saw your warm devotion | 9 | /·····˘/˘ |
| Would hold your life’s blood at their call. | 8 | ········ |
| You lacked the eye to understand | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Those friends offhand | 4 | ··// |
| Whose mode was crude, though whose dim purport | 9 | ·······/· |
| Outpriced the courtesies of the bland. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I am now the only being who | 8 | ····/˘/· |
| Remembers you | 4 | ˘/˘· |
| It may be. What a waste that Nature | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Grudged soul so dear the art its due! | 8 | ········ |
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.