Miscellaneous
The last pose flickered, failed. The screen's dead whiteGlared in a sudden flooding of harsh lightStabbing the eyes; and as I stumbled outThe curtain rose. A fat girl with a poutAnd legs like hams, began to sing "His Mother".Gusts of bad air rose in a choking smother;Smoke, the wet steam of clothes, the stench of plush,Powder, cheap perfume, mingled in a rush.I stepped into the lobby -- and stood stillStruck dumb by sudden beauty, body and will.Cleanness and rapture -- excellence made plain --The storming, thrashing arrows of the rain!Pouring and dripping on the roofs and rods,Smelling of woods and hills and fresh-turned sods,Black on the sidewalks, gray in the far sky,Crashing on thirsty panes, on gutters dry,Hurrying the crowd to shelter, making fairThe streets, the houses, and the heat-soaked air, --Merciful, holy, charging, sweeping, flashing,It smote the soul with a most iron clashing!...Like dragons' eyes the street-lamps suddenly gleamed,Yellow and round and dim-low globes of flame.And, scarce-perceived, the clouds' tall banners streamed.Out of the petty wars, the daily shame,Beauty strove suddenly, and rose, and flowered....I gripped my coat and plunged where awnings lowered.Made one with hissing blackness, caught, embraced,By splendor and by striving and swift haste --Spring coming in with thunderings and strife --I stamped the ground in the strong joy of life!
Words in this poem
- flooding n.
- The filling or covering with water or other fluid; overflow; inundation; the filling anything to excess.
- choking a.
- That chokes; producing the feeling of strangulation.
- stench v. t.
- To stanch. Harvey.
- plush n.
- A textile fabric with a nap or shag on one side, longer and softer than the nap of velvet. [F. pluche, peluche (cf. It. peluzzo), fr. L. pilus hair. See pile hair, and cf. Peruke.]
- cleanness n.
- The state or quality of being clean. [AS. cl. See Clean.]
- storming a.
- from Storm, v. Storming party (Mil.), a party assigned to the duty of making the first assault in storming a fortress.
- dripping n.
- A falling in drops, or the sound so made.
- crashing n.
- The noise of many things falling and breaking at once.
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Miscellaneous 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, Miscellaneous, in Young Adventure (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #312, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/benet-young-adventure/miscellaneous.html, id L13378.
Form and metre
Miscellaneous is 30 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 80% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKLKL--MMNN whiteA · lightA · outB · poutB · motherC · smotherC · plushD · rushD · stillE · willE · plainF · rainF · rodsG · sodsG · skyH · dryH · fairI · airI · flashingJ · clashingJ · gleamedK · flameL · streamedK · shameL · flowered · lowered · embracedM · hasteM · strifeN · lifeN
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The last pose flickered, failed. The screen's dead white | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Glared in a sudden flooding of harsh light | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Stabbing the eyes; and as I stumbled out | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| The curtain rose. A fat girl with a pout | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And legs like hams, began to sing "His Mother". | 11 | ····˘/···/˘ |
| Gusts of bad air rose in a choking smother; | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Smoke, the wet steam of clothes, the stench of plush, | 10 | ·········· |
| Powder, cheap perfume, mingled in a rush. | 10 | /˘·˘//˘··· |
| I stepped into the lobby -- and stood still | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Struck dumb by sudden beauty, body and will. | 11 | ···/˘/˘/˘·· |
| Cleanness and rapture -- excellence made plain -- | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘˘·· |
| The storming, thrashing arrows of the rain! | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Pouring and dripping on the roofs and rods, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Smelling of woods and hills and fresh-turned sods, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Black on the sidewalks, gray in the far sky, | 10 | ···/······ |
| Crashing on thirsty panes, on gutters dry, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Hurrying the crowd to shelter, making fair | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘· |
| The streets, the houses, and the heat-soaked air, -- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Merciful, holy, charging, sweeping, flashing, | 11 | /˘˘/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| It smote the soul with a most iron clashing!... | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Like dragons' eyes the street-lamps suddenly gleamed, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Yellow and round and dim-low globes of flame. | 10 | /˘········ |
| And, scarce-perceived, the clouds' tall banners streamed. | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Out of the petty wars, the daily shame, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Beauty strove suddenly, and rose, and flowered.... | 11 | /˘·/˘˘···/˘ |
| I gripped my coat and plunged where awnings lowered. | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Made one with hissing blackness, caught, embraced, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| By splendor and by striving and swift haste -- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Spring coming in with thunderings and strife -- | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| I stamped the ground in the strong joy of life! | 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.