Figure
Through the turbulent servilityOf a churlish city streetHe strides opaquely; nothing in his walkResembles an advancing gleam.His legs are muffled ironStubbornly following even thoughts,His gaily pugnacious headSeems worried because no dreadRemains for it to slay.His eyes hold an austerityThat recalls itself while leaping,And often melts into amusement.The bent poise of his bodyTells of walls that threw him back,Only to crumble underneathThe stunned friendliness of his face.Through the angularly churlish streetHe walks, and stoops beneath the captured weightOf eyes that do not see him.
Words in this poem
- gaily adv.
- Merrily; showily. See gaily. [From Gay.]
- pugnacious a.
- Disposed to fight; inclined to fighting; quarrelsome; fighting. [L. pugnax, -acis, fr. pugnare to fight. Cf. Pugilism, Fist.]
- austerity n.
- Sourness and harshness to the taste. Horsley. [F. austérité, L. austerias, fr. austerus. See Austere.]
- amusement n.
- Deep thought; muse. [Cf. F. amusement.]
- friendliness n.
- The condition or quality of being friendly. Sir P. Sidney.
- angularly adv.
- In an angular manner; with of at angles or corners. B. Jonson.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Figure is in the public domain. This text is taken from Advice: A Book of Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #60252; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Maxwell Bodenheim, Figure, in Advice: A Book of Poems (1920), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60252, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bodenheim-advice/figure.html, id L23392.
Form and metre
Figure is 19 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 -A----BB--------A-- servility · streetA · walk · gleam · iron · thoughts · headB · dreadB · slay · austerity · leaping · amusement · body · back · underneath · face · streetA · weight · him
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Through the turbulent servility | 9 | ··/˘˘˘/˘˘ |
| Of a churlish city street | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| He strides opaquely; nothing in his walk | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| Resembles an advancing gleam. | 8 | ˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| His legs are muffled iron | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| Stubbornly following even thoughts, | 8 | /˘˘/˘˘/· |
| His gaily pugnacious head | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| Seems worried because no dread | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Remains for it to slay. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| His eyes hold an austerity | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| That recalls itself while leaping, | 8 | ·˘/˘/·/˘ |
| And often melts into amusement. | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| The bent poise of his body | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Tells of walls that threw him back, | 7 | ······· |
| Only to crumble underneath | 8 | /˘·/˘·˘/ |
| The stunned friendliness of his face. | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Through the angularly churlish street | 9 | ··/˘˘˘/˘· |
| He walks, and stoops beneath the captured weight | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of eyes that do not see him. | 7 | ······· |
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.