The Forsaken
The dead are in their silent graves,And the dew is cold above,And the living weep and sigh,Over dust that once was love.
Once I only wept the dead,But now the living cause my pain:How couldst thou steal me from my tears,To leave me to my tears again?
My Mother rests beneath the sod,--Her rest is calm and very deep:I wish'd that she could see our loves,--But now I gladden in her sleep.
Last night unbound my raven locks,The morning saw them turned to gray,Once they were black and well beloved,But thou art changed,--and so are they!
The useless lock I gave thee once,To gaze upon and think of me,Was ta'en with smiles,--but this was tornIn sorrow that I send to thee!
Words in this poem
- gladden v. t.
- To make glad; to cheer; to please; to gratify; to rejoice; to exhilarate. [See Glad, v. t.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Forsaken is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood, Project Gutenberg ebook #15652; 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 Hood, The Forsaken, in The Song of the Shirt, and Other Poems (1826–1845), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15652, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hood-poetical-works/the-forsaken.html, id L20064.
Form and metre
The Forsaken is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 graves · aboveA · sigh · loveA
- 2 -A-A dead · painA · tears · againA
- 3 -A-A sod · deepA · loves · sleepA
- 4 -A-A locks · grayA · beloved · theyA
- 5 -A-A once · meA · torn · theeA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The dead are in their silent graves, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And the dew is cold above, | 7 | ······· |
| And the living weep and sigh, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Over dust that once was love. | 7 | ······· |
| Once I only wept the dead, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| But now the living cause my pain: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| How couldst thou steal me from my tears, | 8 | ········ |
| To leave me to my tears again? | 8 | ······˘/ |
| My Mother rests beneath the sod,-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Her rest is calm and very deep: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I wish'd that she could see our loves,-- | 8 | ······/· |
| But now I gladden in her sleep. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Last night unbound my raven locks, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| The morning saw them turned to gray, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Once they were black and well beloved, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| But thou art changed,--and so are they! | 8 | ········ |
| The useless lock I gave thee once, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To gaze upon and think of me, | 8 | ········ |
| Was ta'en with smiles,--but this was torn | 8 | ········ |
| In sorrow that I send to thee! | 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.