Insanity
Like a vivid hyperbole,The sun plunged into April’s freshness,And struck its sparkling madnessAgainst the barnlike dejectionOf this dark red insane asylum.A softly clutching noiseStumbled from the open windows.Now and then obliquely reeling shrieksRose, as though from menTo whom death had assumedAn inexpressibly kindly face.A man stood at one window,His gaunt face trembling underneathA feverish jauntiness.A long white feather slanted backUpon his almost shapeless hat,Like an innocent evasion.Hotly incessant, his voiceMethodically flogged the April air:A voice that held the clashing bonesOf happiness and fear;A voice in which emotionSharply ridiculed itself;A monstrously vigorous voiceMockingly tearing at lifeWith an unanswerable question.
Hollowed out by his howl,I turned and saw an asylum guard.His petulantly flabby faceRolled into deathlike chips of eyes.He bore the aimless confidenceOf one contentedly playing with other men’s wings.He walked away; the man above still shrieked.I could not separate them.
Words in this poem
- dejection n.
- A casting down; depression. Hallywell. [L. dejectio a casting down: cf. F. déjection.]
- asylum n.
- A sanctuary or place of refuge and protection, where criminals and debtors found shelter, and from which they could not be forcibly taken without sacrilege.
- inexpressibly adv.
- In an inexpressible manner or degree; unspeakably; unutterably.
- gaunt a.
- Attenuated, as with fasting or suffering; lean; meager; pinched and grim. [Cf. Norw. gand a thin pointed stick, a tall and thin man, and W. gwan weak.]
- jauntiness n.
- The quality of being jaunty.
- hotly adv.
- In a hot or fiery manner; ardently; vehemently; violently; hastily; as, a hotly pursued. [From Hot, a.]
- monstrously adv.
- In a monstrous manner; unnaturally; extraordinarily; as, monstrously wicked.
- mockingly adv.
- By way of derision; in a contemptuous or mocking manner.
- unanswerable a.
- Not answerable; irrefutable; conclusive; decisive; as, he have an unanswerable argument.
- petulantly adv.
- In a petulant manner.
- aimless a.
- Without aim or purpose; as, an aimless life.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Insanity 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, Insanity, in Advice: A Book of Poems (1920), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60252, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bodenheim-advice/insanity.html, id L23390.
Form and metre
Insanity is 34 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
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 -----AA----------BC-C--B-- hyperbole · freshness · madness · dejection · asylum · noiseA · windowsA · shrieks · men · assumed · face · window · underneath · jauntiness · back · hat · evasion · voiceB · airC · bones · fearC · emotion · itself · voiceB · life · question
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Like a vivid hyperbole, | 8 | ··/˘˘/˘· |
| The sun plunged into April’s freshness, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| And struck its sparkling madness | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Against the barnlike dejection | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Of this dark red insane asylum. | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| A softly clutching noise | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Stumbled from the open windows. | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Now and then obliquely reeling shrieks | 9 | ···˘/˘/˘· |
| Rose, as though from men | 5 | ····· |
| To whom death had assumed | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| An inexpressibly kindly face. | 9 | ······/˘· |
| A man stood at one window, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| His gaunt face trembling underneath | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| A feverish jauntiness. | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘˘ |
| A long white feather slanted back | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Upon his almost shapeless hat, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Like an innocent evasion. | 8 | ··/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Hotly incessant, his voice | 7 | /˘˘/˘·· |
| Methodically flogged the April air: | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| A voice that held the clashing bones | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of happiness and fear; | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| A voice in which emotion | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Sharply ridiculed itself; | 8 | /˘/˘·˘˘/ |
| A monstrously vigorous voice | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘˘· |
| Mockingly tearing at life | 7 | /˘˘/˘·· |
| With an unanswerable question. | 9 | ····˘˘˘/˘ |
| Hollowed out by his howl, | 7 | /˘˘···· |
| I turned and saw an asylum guard. | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| His petulantly flabby face | 8 | ·/˘˘˘/˘· |
| Rolled into deathlike chips of eyes. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He bore the aimless confidence | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| Of one contentedly playing with other men’s wings. | 12 | ··˘/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| He walked away; the man above still shrieked. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| I could not separate them. | 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.