Analysis of The Other
Edward Thomas 1878 (London Borough of Lambeth) – 1917 (Pas-de-Calais)
The forest ended. Glad I was
To feel the light, and hear the hum
Of bees, and smell the drying grass
And the sweet mint, because I had come
To an end of forest, and because
Here was both road and inn, the sum
Of what's not forest. But 'twas here
They asked me if I did not pass
Yesterday this way. 'Not you? Queer.'
'Who then? and slept here?' I felt fear.
I learnt his road and, ere they were
Sure I was I, left the dark wood
Behind, kestrel and woodpecker,
The inn in the sun, the happy mood
When first I tasted sunlight there.
I travelled fast, in hopes I should
Outrun that other. What to do
When caught, I planned not. I pursued
To prove the likeness, and, if true,
To watch until myself I knew.
I tried the inns that evening
Of a long gabled high-street grey,
Of courts and outskirts, travelling
And eager but a weary way,
In vain. He was not there. Nothing
Told me that ever till that day
Had one like me entered those doors,
Save once. That time I dared: 'You may
Recall' -- but never-foamless shores
Make better friends than those dull boors.
Many and many a day like this
Aimed at the unseen moving goal
And nothing found but remedies
For all desire. These made not whole;
They sowed a new desire, a kiss
Desire's self beyond control,
Desire of desire. And yet
Life stayed on within my soul.
One night in sheltering from the wet
I quite forgot I could forget.
A customer, then the landlady
Stared at me. With a kind of smile
They hesitated awkwardly:
Their silence gave me time for guile.
Had anyone called there like me,
I asked. It was quite plain the wile
Succeeded. For they poured out all.
And that was naught. Less than a mile
Beyond the inn, I could recall
He was like me in general.
He had pleased them, but I less.
I was more eager than before
To find him out and to confess,
To bore him and to let him bore.
I could not wait: children might guess
I had a purpose, something more
That made an answer indiscreet.
One girl's caution made me sore,
Too indignant even to greet
That other had we chanced to meet.
I sought then in solitude.
The wind had fallen with the night; as still
The roads lay as the ploughland rude,
Dark and naked, on the hill.
Had there been ever any feud
'Twixt earth and sky, a mighty will
Closed it: the crocketed dark trees,
A dark house, dark impossible
Cloud-towers, one star, one lamp, one peace
Held on an everlasting lease:
And all was earth's, or all was sky's;
No difference endured between
The two. A dog barked on a hidden rise;
A marshbird whistled high unseen;
The latest waking blackbird's cries
Perished upon the silence keen.
The last light filled a narrow firth
Among the clouds. I stood serene,
And with a solemn quiet mirth,
An old inhabitant of earth.
Once the name I gave to hours
Like this was melancholy, when
It was not happiness and powers
Coming like exiles home again,
And weaknesses quitting their bowers,
Smiled and enjoyed, far off from men,
Moments of everlastingness.
And fortunate my search was then
While what I sought, nevertheless,
That I was seeking, I did not guess.
That time was brief: once more at inn
And upon road I sought my man
Till once amid a tap-room's din
Loudly he asked for me, began
To speak, as if it had been a sin,
Of how I thought and dreamed and ran
After him thus, day after day:
He lived as one under a ban
For this: what had I got to say?
I said nothing. I slipped away.
And now I dare not follow after
Too close. I try to keep in sight,
Dreading his frown and worse his laughter.
I steal out of the wood to light;
I see the swift shoot from the rafter
By the inn door: ere I alight
I wait and hear the starlings wheeze
And nibble like ducks: I wait his flight.
He goes: I follow: no release
Until he ceases. Then I also shall cease.
Scheme | ABCBXBXCDD EFEGXFHGHH IJIJIJKJKX LMNMLMOMOO PQPQPQRQRS TUTUTUVUVV GWGWGWNSXX YZYZYZ1 Z1 1 2 3 2 3 2 3 A3 TT 4 5 4 5 4 5 J5 JJ E6 E6 E6 N6 XX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (31%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 01010111 11010101 11010101 001101111 111110001 11110101 11110111 11111111 1011111 11011111 11110110 11111011 011010 010010101 1111011 11010111 01110111 11111101 11010011 1101111 1101110 10110111 1101100 01010101 01111110 11110111 11111011 11111111 111011 11011111 100100111 11001101 01011100 110101111 110101001 110101 010101001 1110111 110100101 11011101 01001010 11110111 1100100 11011111 1101111 11111101 01011111 01111101 0101111 11110100 1111111 11110101 11110101 11101111 11111011 11010101 11110001 1110111 10101011 11011111 111010 0111010111 0111011 1010101 11110101 11010101 110111 01110100 110111111 1110101 01111111 11000101 0101110101 0110101 0101011 10010101 01110101 01011101 01010101 11010011 10111110 1111001 111100010 1011101 010010110 10011111 1011 01001111 1111001 111101111 11111111 00111111 11010111 10111101 111111101 11110101 10111101 11111001 11111111 11101101 011111010 11111101 101101110 11110111 110111010 10111101 1101011 010111111 11110101 01110111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,633 |
Words | 720 |
Sentences | 48 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 |
Lines Amount | 110 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 262 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 65 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 06, 2023
- 3:37 min read
- 91 Views
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"The Other" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 30 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/9900/the-other>.
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