Analysis of The Blue Scarf

Amy Lowell 1874 (Brookline) – 1925 (Brookline)



Pale, with the blue of high zeniths, shimmered over with silver, brocaded
In smooth, running patterns, a soft stuff, with dark knotted fringes,
it lies there,
Warm from a woman's soft shoulders, and my fingers close on it, caressing.
Where is she, the woman who wore it? The scent of her lingers and drugs me!
A languor, fire-shotted, runs through me, and I crush the scarf down
on my face,
And gulp in the warmth and the blueness, and my eyes swim
in cool-tinted heavens.
Around me are columns of marble, and a diapered, sun-flickered pavement.
Rose-leaves blow and patter against it. Below the stone steps a lute tinkles.
A jar of green jade throws its shadow half over the floor. A big-bellied
Frog hops through the sunlight and plops in the gold-bubbled water of a basin,
Sunk in the black and white marble. The west wind has lifted a scarf
On the seat close beside me, the blue of it is a violent outrage of colour.
She draws it more closely about her, and it ripples beneath
her slight stirring.
Her kisses are sharp buds of fire; and I burn back against her, a jewel
Hard and white; a stalked, flaming flower; till I break to
a handful of cinders,
And open my eyes to the scarf, shining blue in the afternoon sunshine.

How loud clocks can tick when a room is empty, and one is alone!


Scheme ABCDXXXXXABAXXCXDXAXX X
Poetic Form
Metre 110111110101101 011010011111010 111 110101100110111010 111010111011010011 01101111011011 111 0100100100111 011010 01111011000111010 11101001101011011 01111111110010110 111010100110101010 1001011001111001 1011011011110100111 111110010011001 0110 0101111100111010010 1010110101111 01110 0101110110100011 1111110111001101
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 1,277
Words 240
Sentences 14
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 21, 1
Lines Amount 22
Letters per line (avg) 46
Words per line (avg) 11
Letters per stanza (avg) 502
Words per stanza (avg) 119
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 19, 2023

1:12 min read
158

Amy Lowell

Amy Lawrence Lowell was an American poet of the imagist school from Brookline, Massachusetts who posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926. more…

All Amy Lowell poems | Amy Lowell Books

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