Nevermore
Remembrance, what wilt thou with me? The yearDeclined; in the still air the thrush piped clear,The languid sunshine did incurious peerAmong the thinned leaves of the forest sere.
We were alone, and pensively we strolled,With straying locks and fancies, when, beholdHer turn to let her thrilling gaze enfold,And ask me in her voice of living gold,
Her fresh young voice, "What was thy happiest day?"I smiled discreetly for all answer, andDevotedly I kissed her fair white hand.
--Ah, me! The earliest flowers, how sweet are they!And in how exquisite a whisper slipsThe earliest "Yes" from well-beloved lips!
Words in this poem
- piped a.
- Formed with a pipe; having pipe or pipes; tubular.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- incurious a.
- Not curious or inquisitive; without care for or interest in; inattentive; careless; negligent; heedless. [L. incuriosus: cf. F. incurieux. See In- not, and Curious.]
- sere n.
- Claw; talon. Chapman. [F. serre.]
- pensively adv.
- In a pensive manner.
- thrilling a.
- Causing a thrill; causing tremulous excitement; deeply moving; as, a thrilling romance.
- enfold v. t.
- To infold. See Infold.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Nevermore is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #8426, the Gertrude Hall translation; 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 Verlaine, Nevermore, in Poems (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8426, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/verlaine-poems/nevermore.html, id L15518.
Form and metre
Nevermore is 14 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 86% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 AAAA yearA · clearA · peerA · sereA
- 2 AAAA strolledA · beholdA · enfoldA · goldA
- 3 -AA day · andA · handA
- 4 -AA they · slipsA · lipsA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Remembrance, what wilt thou with me? The year | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| Declined; in the still air the thrush piped clear, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| The languid sunshine did incurious peer | 11 | ·/˘/··˘/˘˘· |
| Among the thinned leaves of the forest sere. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| We were alone, and pensively we strolled, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘˘·· |
| With straying locks and fancies, when, behold | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Her turn to let her thrilling gaze enfold, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And ask me in her voice of living gold, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Her fresh young voice, "What was thy happiest day?" | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I smiled discreetly for all answer, and | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Devotedly I kissed her fair white hand. | 10 | ·········· |
| --Ah, me! The earliest flowers, how sweet are they! | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| And in how exquisite a whisper slips | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| The earliest "Yes" from well-beloved lips! | 10 | ·/˘˘···˘/· |
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.