Talk:Always Comes Evening (unknown)

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Latest comment: 6 months ago by Beardo
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It seems clear to me that a misprint in the Howard poetry collection, Always Comes Evening, is responsible for an error in line 16 of this poem. Because there was a copy error in the collection, the poem is misquoted in most other sources:

"Satan, Satan, brother Satan, have known your fiercest Hells"

Howard has adopted his own sonnet form of 15 syllables. Each line has the same iambic pattern except for line 16. This line varies from the others because it has only 14 syllables and does not match the rhythm of the rest of the poem. The word "I" has been left out of line 16 by mistake.

Therefore, line 16 should correctly read:

"Satan, Satan, brother Satan, I have known your fiercest Hells"

The reader should note that correcting the copy error results in a poem that is consistent in all its verses. The correction seems obvious and probably ought to become the standard form in which this poem should be quoted. -- unsigned comment by FormCritic (talk) 07:39, 11 June 2013.

Though the error could have been in Howard's original text. -- Beardo (talk) 23:44, 4 February 2024 (UTC)Reply
The version from Stirring Science Stories has that missing "I". -- Beardo (talk) 15:40, 8 April 2024 (UTC)Reply