Analysis of Clowns' Houses
Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell 1887 (Scarborough) – 1964 (Weedon Lois)
BENEATH the flat and paper sky
The sun, a demon's eye,
Glowed through the air, that mask of glass;
All wand'ring sounds that pass
Seemed out of tune, as if the light
Were fiddle-strings pulled tight.
The market-square with spire and bell
Clanged out the hour in Hell;
The busy chatter of the heat
Shrilled like a parakeet;
And shuddering at the noonday light
The dust lay dead and white
As powder on a mummy's face,
Or fawned with simian grace
Round booths with many a hard bright toy
And wooden brittle joy:
The cap and bells of Time the Clown
That, jangling, whistled down
Young cherubs hidden in the guise
Of every bird that flies;
And star-bright masks for youth to wear,
Lest any dream that fare
--Bright pilgrim--past our ken, should see
Hints of Reality.
Upon the sharp-set grass, shrill-green,
Tall trees like rattles lean,
And jangle sharp and dissily;
But when night falls they sign
Till Pierrot moon steals slyly in,
His face more white than sin,
Black-masked, and with cool touch lays bare
Each cherry, plum, and pear.
Then underneath the veiled eyes
Of houses, darkness lies--
Tall houses; like a hopeless prayer
They cleave the sly dumb air.
Blind are those houses, paper-thin
Old shadows hid therein,
With sly and crazy movements creep
Like marionettes, and weep.
Tall windows show Infinity;
And, hard reality,
The candles weep and pry and dance
Like lives mocked at by Chance.
The rooms are vast as Sleep within;
When once I ventured in,
Chill Silence, like a surging sea,
Slowly enveloped me.
Scheme | AABB CCDD EECC FFGG HHII JJKK LLDX MMJJ IIJJ MMNN KKOO MMKK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (92%) |
Metre | 01010101 01011 11011111 111111 11111101 010111 01011101 1101001 01010101 11010 01001011 011101 11010101 1111001 111100111 010101 01011101 11101 11010001 1100111 01111111 110111 110110111 1110 01011111 111101 010101 111111 1111100 111111 11011111 110101 101011 110101 11010101 110111 11110101 11101 11010101 1101 11010100 0110 01010101 111111 01111101 111100 11010101 100101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,506 |
Words | 265 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 48 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 99 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 22, 2023
- 1:20 min read
- 83 Views
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"Clowns' Houses" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7412/clowns%27-houses>.
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