Analysis of God-Forgotten

Thomas Hardy 1840 (Stinsford) – 1928 (Dorchester, Dorset)



I towered far, and lo! I stood within
   The presence of the Lord Most High,
Sent thither by the sons of earth, to win
   Some answer to their cry.

--"The Earth, say'st thou? The Human race?
   By Me created? Sad its lot?
Nay: I have no remembrance of such place:
   Such world I fashioned not." -

--"O Lord, forgive me when I say
   Thou spak'st the word, and mad'st it all." -
"The Earth of men--let me bethink me . . . Yea!
   I dimly do recall

"Some tiny sphere I built long back
   (Mid millions of such shapes of mine)
So named . . . It perished, surely--not a wrack
   Remaining, or a sign?

"It lost my interest from the first,
   My aims therefor succeeding ill;
Haply it died of doing as it durst?" -
   "Lord, it existeth still." -

"Dark, then, its life! For not a cry
   Of aught it bears do I now hear;
Of its own act the threads were snapt whereby
   Its plaints had reached mine ear.

"It used to ask for gifts of good,
   Till came its severance self-entailed,
When sudden silence on that side ensued,
   And has till now prevailed.

"All other orbs have kept in touch;
   Their voicings reach me speedily:
Thy people took upon them overmuch
   In sundering them from me!

"And it is strange--though sad enough -
   Earth's race should think that one whose call
Frames, daily, shining spheres of flawless stuff
   Must heed their tainted ball! . . .

"But say'st thou 'tis by pangs distraught,
   And strife, and silent suffering? -
Deep grieved am I that injury should be wrought
   Even on so poor a thing!

"Thou should'st have learnt that Not to Mend
   For Me could mean but Not to Know:
Hence, Messengers! and straightway put an end
   To what men undergo." . . .

Homing at dawn, I thought to see
   One of the Messengers standing by.
- Oh, childish thought! . . . Yet oft it comes to me
   When trouble hovers nigh.


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ BKBK XLXL MNMN OFOF PQPQ RSRS NBNB
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 1101011101 01010111 111011111 110111 011110101 11010111 1111010111 111101 11011111 1110101111 011111111 11011 11011111 11011111 1111010101 010101 11110101 1110101 111110111 1111 11111101 11111111 1111010101 111111 11111111 111100101 1101011101 011101 11011101 1111100 11010111 01111 01111101 11111111 1101011101 111101 111111101 01010100 11111100111 1011101 111111111 11111111 110001111 11101 10111111 110100101 1101111111 110101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,873
Words 330
Sentences 40
Stanzas 12
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 48
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 109
Words per stanza (avg) 28
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 02, 2023

1:40 min read
533

Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy, was not a Scottish Minister, not a Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland nor a Professor of Eccesiastical History at Edinburgh University. more…

All Thomas Hardy poems | Thomas Hardy Books

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