Analysis of Smell
William Carlos Williams 1883 (Rutherford) – 1963 (Rutherford)
Oh strong-ridged and deeply hollowed
nose of mine! what will you not be smelling?
What tactless asses we are, you and I, boney nose,
always indiscriminate, always unashamed,
and now it is the souring flowers of the bedreggled
poplars: a festering pulp on the wet earth
beneath them. With what deep thirst
we quicken our desires
to that rank odor of a passing springtime!
Can you not be decent? Can you not reserve your ardors
for something less unlovely? What girl will care
for us, do you think, if we continue in these ways?
Must you taste everything? Must you know everything?
Must you have a part in everything?
| Scheme | ABCDAEFGHCIJBB |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | |
| Metre | 11101010 1111111110 1101011101101 100100101 0111010010101 1010011011 0111111 11010010 1111010101 1111101110111 110111111 1111111010011 1111011110 11101010 |
| Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
| Characters | 623 |
| Words | 111 |
| Sentences | 11 |
| Stanzas | 1 |
| Stanza Lengths | 14 |
| Lines Amount | 14 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
| Words per line (avg) | 8 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 488 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 109 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 04, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 117 Views
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"Smell" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/39693/smell>.
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