The Balcony

Muriel Stuart 1885 – 1967



A STREET at night, a silent square
   That mirth forbids;
Whose windows, with drawn lips and narrowed lids,
   Resent the intruder's stare.

Where winds are cautious in their play,
   Where only steals
Some meager brougham on its muffled wheels
   Before the portals grey.

But suddenly a window swings,
   A hand is laid
For one white moment on the balustrade,
   And benediction brings.

I linger . . . but, O influence malign
   I watch a snail
Crawl casually along the painted rail,
   Where I had built a shrine!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

26 sec read
43

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBA CDDC EFFE GHHG
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 519
Words 86
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

Muriel Stuart

Muriel Stuart was The daughter of a Scottish barrister was a poet particularly concerned with the topic of sexual politics though she first wrote poems about World War I She later gave up poetry writing her last work was published in the 1930s She was born Muriel Stuart Irwin She was hailed by Hugh MacDiarmid as the best woman poet of the Scottish Renaissance although she was not Scottish but English Despite this his comment led to her inclusion in many Scottish anthologies Thomas Hardy described her poetry as Superlatively good Her most famous poem In the Orchard is entirely dialogs and in no kind of verse form which makes it innovative for its time She does use rhyme a mixture of half-rhyme and rhyming couplets abab form Other famous poems of hers are The Seed Shop The Fools and Man and his Makers Muriel also wrote a gardening book called Gardeners Nightcap 1938 which was later reprinted by Persephone Books more…

All Muriel Stuart poems | Muriel Stuart Books

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