Hope springs eternal

[Conchita]

Hope springs eternal in the human breast.

In this verse, the use of ‘eternal’ as an adverb struck me as odd. The reason I was surprised is that I found the line on its own in my old ‘Modern English Practice’ book, as part of an exercise on the articles.

Is it some kind of poetic liberty or can this adjective be used in place of the adverb ‘eternally’ in natural everyday English?

Thank you and – to use the word as a noun – may the Eternal guide you!

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never Is, but always To be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

-Alexander Pope (English poet and satirist),
An Essay on Man, Epistle I, 1733

[Alan]

Hi Conchita,

You said:

[Jamie (K)]