What is the correct way to write 'for ever more'?
I know that 'forever' is a word, and I know that 'evermore' is a word, but what is the correct way to write the phrase 'for ever more'? Is it 'forever more'? 'For evermore'? Or even 'forevermore', as a long shot? Any help would be appreciated!
The OED has both flavors:
- 1850 Tennyson In Mem. xxxiv, ― My own dim life should teach me this, That life shall live for evermore.
- 1872 Longf. Christus Introitus 46 ― Forevermore, it shall be as it hath been heretofore.
I myself would do the second; it goes with Poe’s nevermore.
Are you sure you need the for part? Might evermore alone suffice?
From helm to sea they saw him leap,
As arrow from the string,
And dive into the water deep,
As mew upon the wing.The wind was in his flowing hair,
The foam about him shone;
Afar they saw him strong and fair
Go riding like a swan.
But from the West has come no word,
And on the Hither Shore
No tidings Elven-folk have heard
Of Amroth evermore.
Edgar Allen Poe also used 'for evermore', famously in The Raven.
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; – vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow – sorrow for the lost Lenore —
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore —
Nameless here for evermore.
And while I'm here... NEVERMORE. ;)