The To-Be-Forgotten
I HEARD a small sad sound,And stood awhile amid the tombs around:“Wherefore, old friends,” said I, “are ye distrest,Now, screened from life’s unrest?”
—“O not at being here;But that our future second death is drear;When, with the living, memory of us numbs,And blank oblivion comes!
“Those who our grandsires beLie here embraced by deeper death than we;Nor shape nor thought of theirs canst thou descryWith keenest backward eye.
“They bide as quite forgot;They are as men who have existed not;Theirs is a loss past loss of fitful breath;It is the second death.
“We here, as yet, each dayAre blest with dear recall; as yet, alwayIn some soul hold a loved continuanceOf shape and voice and glance.
“But what has been will be—First memory, then oblivion’s turbid sea;Like men foregone, shall we merge into thoseWhose story no one knows.
“For which of us could hopeTo show in life that world-awakening scopeGranted the few whose memory none lets die,But all men magnify?
“We were but Fortune’s sport;Things true, things lovely, things of good reportWe neither shunned nor sought . . . We see our bourne,And seeing it we mourn.”
Words in this poem
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- unrest n.
- Want of rest or repose; unquietness; sleeplessness; uneasiness; disquietude.
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
- oblivion n.
- The act of forgetting, or the state of being forgotten; cessation of remembrance; forgetfulness. [L. oblivio, akin to oblivisci to forget: cf. OF. oblivion.]
- descry
- , Discovery or view, as of an army seen at a distance.
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
- fitful a.
- Full of fits; irregularly variable; impulsive and unstable. [From 7th Fit.]
- 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,]
- merge v. t.
- To cause to be swallowed up; to immerse; to sink; to absorb. [L. mergere, mersum. Cf. Emerge, Immerse, Marrow.]
- bourne n.
- A stream or rivulet; a burn. [OE. burne, borne, AS. burna; akin to OS. brunno spring, G. born, brunnen, OHG. prunno, Goth. brunna, Icel. brunnr, and perh. to Gr. burn, v., because the source]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The To-Be-Forgotten is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of the Past and the Present, Project Gutenberg ebook #3168; 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 To-Be-Forgotten, in Poems of the Past and the Present (1901), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #3168, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hardy-past-and-present/the-to-be-forgotten.html, id L16906.
Form and metre
The To-Be-Forgotten is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 7 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 28% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 AABB soundA · aroundA · distrestB · unrestB
- 2 AABB hereA · drearA · numbsB · comesB
- 3 AABB beA · weA · descryB · eyeB
- 4 AABB forgotA · notA · breathB · deathB
- 5 --AA day · alway · continuanceA · glanceA
- 6 AABB beA · seaA · thoseB · knowsB
- 7 AABB hopeA · scopeA · dieB · magnifyB
- 8 AABB sportA · reportA · bourneB · mournB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I HEARD a small sad sound, | 6 | ······ |
| And stood awhile amid the tombs around: | 10 | ··˘/˘/···· |
| “Wherefore, old friends,” said I, “are ye distrest, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Now, screened from life’s unrest?” | 6 | ····˘/ |
| —“O not at being here; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But that our future second death is drear; | 10 | ··//˘/˘··· |
| When, with the living, memory of us numbs, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And blank oblivion comes! | 7 | ··˘/˘˘· |
| “Those who our grandsires be | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Lie here embraced by deeper death than we; | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Nor shape nor thought of theirs canst thou descry | 10 | ········˘/ |
| With keenest backward eye. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| “They bide as quite forgot; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| They are as men who have existed not; | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Theirs is a loss past loss of fitful breath; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| It is the second death. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| “We here, as yet, each day | 6 | ······ |
| Are blest with dear recall; as yet, alway | 10 | ····/···/˘ |
| In some soul hold a loved continuance | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Of shape and voice and glance. | 6 | ······ |
| “But what has been will be— | 6 | ······ |
| First memory, then oblivion’s turbid sea; | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘· |
| Like men foregone, shall we merge into those | 10 | ··//······ |
| Whose story no one knows. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| “For which of us could hope | 6 | ······ |
| To show in life that world-awakening scope | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Granted the few whose memory none lets die, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| But all men magnify? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| “We were but Fortune’s sport; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Things true, things lovely, things of good report | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| We neither shunned nor sought . . . We see our bourne, | 10 | ·/˘·····/· |
| And seeing it we mourn.” | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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.