Rattlesnake Mountain Fable I
Rounded to a wide eyed clownishnessCrowned by the shifting bravadoOf his long, brown ears,The rabbit peeked at the sky.To him, the sky seemed an angelicPasture stripped to phantom tranquility,Where one could nibble thoughtfully.He longed to leave his mild furtivenessAnd speak to a boldness puzzled by his flesh.With one long circle of despairing graceHe flashed into the air,Leaping toward his heaven.But down he crashed against a snakeWho ate him with a meditative interest.From that day on the snake was filledWith little, meek whispers of concern.The crushed and peaceful rabbit’s dreamCast a groping hush upon his blood.He curled inertly on a rock,In cryptic, wilted savageness.In the end, his dry, grey bodyWas scattered out upon the rock,Like a story that could not be told.
Words in this poem
- clownishness n.
- The manners of a clown; coarseness or rudeness of behavior.
- bravado n.
- Boastful and threatening behavior; a boastful menace. [Sp. bravada, bravata, boast, brag: cf. F. bravade. See Brave.]
- despairing a.
- Feeling or expressing despair; hopeless.
- inertly adv.
- Without activity; sluggishly.
- cryptic a.
- Hidden; secret; occult.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Rattlesnake Mountain Fable I 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, Rattlesnake Mountain Fable I, in Advice: A Book of Poems (1920), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60252, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bodenheim-advice/rattlesnake-mountain-fable-i.html, id L23370.
Form and metre
Rattlesnake Mountain Fable I is 23 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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---A--B--B- clownishness · bravado · ears · sky · angelic · tranquility · thoughtfully · furtiveness · flesh · grace · air · heavenA · snake · interest · filled · concernA · dream · blood · rockB · savageness · body · rockB · told
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Rounded to a wide eyed clownishness | 9 | /˘····/˘˘ |
| Crowned by the shifting bravado | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| Of his long, brown ears, | 5 | ····· |
| The rabbit peeked at the sky. | 8 | ·/˘·˘··· |
| To him, the sky seemed an angelic | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Pasture stripped to phantom tranquility, | 9 | /˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| Where one could nibble thoughtfully. | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| He longed to leave his mild furtiveness | 10 | ·········· |
| And speak to a boldness puzzled by his flesh. | 11 | ····/˘/˘··· |
| With one long circle of despairing grace | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| He flashed into the air, | 7 | ··˘···· |
| Leaping toward his heaven. | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| But down he crashed against a snake | 8 | ········ |
| Who ate him with a meditative interest. | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| From that day on the snake was filled | 8 | ········ |
| With little, meek whispers of concern. | 9 | ·/˘·/˘·˘/ |
| The crushed and peaceful rabbit’s dream | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Cast a groping hush upon his blood. | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| He curled inertly on a rock, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| In cryptic, wilted savageness. | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| In the end, his dry, grey body | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Was scattered out upon the rock, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Like a story that could not be told. | 9 | ··/˘····· |
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.