Ghosts of a Lunatic Asylum
Here, where men's eyes were empty and as brightAs the blank windows set in glaring brick,When the wind strengthens from the sea -- and nightDrops like a fog and makes the breath come thick;
By the deserted paths, the vacant halls,One may see figures, twisted shades and lean,Like the mad shapes that crawl an Indian screen,Or paunchy smears you find on prison walls.
Turn the knob gently! There's the Thumbless Man,Still weaving glass and silk into a dream,Although the wall shows through him -- and the KhanJourneys Cathay beside a paper stream.
A Rabbit Woman chitters by the door ---- Chilly the grave-smell comes from the turned sod --Come -- lift the curtain -- and be cold beforeThe silence of the eight men who were God!
Words in this poem
- glaring a.
- Clear; notorious; open and bold; barefaced; as, a glaring crime.
- crawl v. i.
- To move slowly by drawing the body along the ground, as a worm; to move slowly on hands and kness; to creep. [Dan. kravle, or Icel. krafla, to paw, scrabble with the hands; akin to Sw. kr to crawl; cf. LG. krabbeln, D. krabbelen to scratch.]
- paunchy a.
- Pot-bellied. Dickens.
- thumbless a.
- Without a thumb. Darwin.
- khan n.
- A king; a prince; a chief; a governor; -- so called among the Tartars, Turks, and Persians, and in countries now or formerly governed by them. [Pers. & Tart. khan.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ghosts of a Lunatic Asylum is in the public domain. This text is taken from Young Adventure: A Book of Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #312; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Stephen Vincent Benét, Ghosts of a Lunatic Asylum, in Young Adventure (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #312, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/benet-young-adventure/ghosts-of-a-lunatic-asylum.html, id L13393.
Form and metre
Ghosts of a Lunatic Asylum is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB brightA · brickB · nightA · thickB
- 2 ABBA hallsA · leanB · screenB · wallsA
- 3 -A-A man · dreamA · khan · streamA
- 4 ABAB doorA · sodB · beforeA · godB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Here, where men's eyes were empty and as bright | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| As the blank windows set in glaring brick, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| When the wind strengthens from the sea -- and night | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Drops like a fog and makes the breath come thick; | 10 | ·········· |
| By the deserted paths, the vacant halls, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| One may see figures, twisted shades and lean, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Like the mad shapes that crawl an Indian screen, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Or paunchy smears you find on prison walls. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Turn the knob gently! There's the Thumbless Man, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Still weaving glass and silk into a dream, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Although the wall shows through him -- and the Khan | 10 | ·········· |
| Journeys Cathay beside a paper stream. | 10 | /˘˘/˘/·/˘· |
| A Rabbit Woman chitters by the door -- | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| -- Chilly the grave-smell comes from the turned sod -- | 10 | /˘········ |
| Come -- lift the curtain -- and be cold before | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The silence of the eight men who were God! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.