Analysis of The Skirt

Guillaume Apollinaire 1880 (Rome) – 1918 (Paris)



Hallo Germaine that's a fine skirt you have
A fine skirt for a queen A cruel queen
Let's feel the silk of it Silk from Japan
And trimmed with wide lace made on no machine

Your skirt's a silken bell whose double clapper
Your legs have struck the passing of my fancies
O Germaine now I ring it my breast heaving
My hands press down upon your willing haunches

Your bedroom O my bell is a fine belfry
My hands touch silk and seem to tear my ears
Those pegs are gallows on which skirts are hanging
Those hanging men are dazzling my eyes

Motionless as an owl the oil lamp watches


Scheme XAXA XBCB XXCX X
Poetic Form
Metre 101101111 0111010101 1101111101 0111111101 11010111010 11110101110 10111111110 1111011101 1111110110 1111011111 11110111110 1101110011 10011101110
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 569
Words 114
Sentences 1
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 1
Lines Amount 13
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 115
Words per stanza (avg) 28
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 22, 2023

35 sec read
105

Guillaume Apollinaire

Guillaume Apollinaire was an Italian-born French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic born in Rome, in Italy, to a Polish mother. more…

All Guillaume Apollinaire poems | Guillaume Apollinaire Books

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