Analysis of Clear, With Light, Variable Winds
Amy Lowell 1874 (Brookline) – 1925 (Brookline)
The fountain bent and straightened itself
In the night wind,
Blowing like a flower.
It gleamed and glittered,
A tall white lily,
Under the eye of the golden moon.
From a stone seat,
Beneath a blossoming lime,
The man watched it.
And the spray pattered
On the dim grass at his feet.
The fountain tossed its water,
Up and up, like silver marbles.
Is that an arm he sees?
And for one moment
Does he catch the moving curve
Of a thigh?
The fountain gurgled and splashed,
And the man's face was wet.
Is it singing that he hears?
A song of playing at ball?
The moonlight shines on the straight column of water,
And through it he sees a woman,
Tossing the water-balls.
Her breasts point outwards,
And the nipples are like buds of peonies.
Her flanks ripple as she plays,
And the water is not more undulating
Than the lines of her body.
'Come,' she sings, 'Poet!
Am I not more worth than your day ladies,
Covered with awkward stuffs,
Unreal, unbeautiful?
What do you fear in taking me?
Is not the night for poets?
I am your dream,
Recurrent as water,
Gemmed with the moon!'
She steps to the edge of the pool
And the water runs, rustling, down her sides.
She stretches out her arms,
And the fountain streams behind her
Like an opened veil.
* * * * *
In the morning the gardeners came to their work.
'There is something in the fountain,' said one.
They shuddered as they laid their dead master
On the grass.
'I will close his eyes,' said the head gardener,
'It is uncanny to see a dead man staring at the sun.'
Scheme | XXABCDEXXBE AXFXXXXX XXAGXXFXXC XFXCCXXAD XXXAX XGAXAG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (30%) Etheree (28%) |
Metre | 010101001 0011 101010 11010 01110 100110101 1011 0101001 0111 00110 1011111 0101110 10111010 111111 01110 1110101 101 010101 001111 1110111 0111011 01110110110 01111010 100101 01110 00101111100 0110111 0010111100 1011010 11110 1111111110 101101 011 11110101 1101110 1111 010110 1101 11101101 0010110101 110101 00101010 11101 1 001001001111 1110001011 1101111110 101 11111101100 110101101110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,458 |
Words | 290 |
Sentences | 25 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 11, 8, 10, 9, 5, 1, 6 |
Lines Amount | 50 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 164 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:25 min read
- 98 Views
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"Clear, With Light, Variable Winds" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2209/clear%2C-with-light%2C-variable-winds>.
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