South State Street: Chicago
Rows of blankly box-like buildingsRaise their sodden architectureInto the poised lyric of the sky.At their feet, pawn-shops and burlesque theatresYawn beneath their livid confetti.In the pawn-shop windows, violins,Cut-glass bowls and satchels mildly blinkUpon the mottled turbulence outside,And sit with that detached assuranceGripping things inanimate.Near them, slyly shaded cabaretsStand in bland and ornate sleep,And the glassy luridnessOf penny-arcades flays the eyes.The black crowd clatters like an idiot’s wrath.
Wander with me down this streetWhere the spectral night is caughtLike moon-paint on a colourless lane....On this corner stands a womanSleekly, sulkily complacentLike a tigress nibbling bits of sugar.At her side, a brawny, white-faced manWhose fingers waltz upon his checkered suit,Searches for one face amidst the crowd.(His smile is like a rambling sword.)His elbows almost touch a snowy girlWhose body blooms with cool withdrawal.From her little nook of peaceful scornShe casts unseeing eyes upon the crowd.Near her stands a weary newsboyWith a sullenly elfin face.The night has leaned too intimatelyOn the frightened scampering of his soul.But to this old, staidly patient womanWith her softly wintry eyes,Night bends down in gentle revelationUndisturbed by joy or hatred.At her side two factory girlsIn slyly jaunty hats and swaggering coats,Weave a twinkling summer with their words:A summer where the night paradesRakishly, and like a gold Beau Brummel.With a gnome-like impudenceThey thrust their little, pink tongues outAt men who sidle past.To them, the frantic dinginess of dayHas melted to caressing restlessnessTingling with the pride of breasts and hips.At their side two dainty, languid girlsPlaying with their suavely tangled dresses,Touch the black crowd with unsearching eyes.But the old man on the corner,Bending over his cane like some tired warriorResting on a sword, peers at the crowdWith the smouldering disdainOf a King whipped out of his domain.For a moment he smiles uncertainly.Then wears a look of frail sternness.
Musty, Rabelaisian odours strayFrom this naïvely gilded family-entranceAnd make the body of a vagrantQuiver as though unseen roses grazed him.His face is blackly stubbled emptinessSwerving to the rotted prayers of eyes.Yet, sometimes his thin arm leaps outAnd hangs a moment in the air,As though he raised a violin of hateAnd lacked the strength to play it.A woman lurches from the family-entrance.With tense solicitude she hugsHer can of beer against her stunted bosomAnd mumbles to herself.The trampled blasphemy upon her faceHolds up, in death, its watery, barren eyes.Indifferently, she brushes past the vagrant:Life has peeled away her sense of touch.
With groping majesty, the endless crowdPounds its searching chant of feetDown this tawdrily resplendent street.People stray into a burlesque theatreFramed with scarlet, blankly rotund girls.Here a burly cattle-raiser walksWith the grace of wind-swept prairie grass.Behind him steps a slender clerkTendering his sprightly stridencyTo the stolid, doll-like girl beside him.At his side a heavy youthDully stands beneath his swaggering mask;And a smiling man in black and whiteWalks, like some Pierrot grown middle-aged.
Mutely twinkling fragments of a romance:Tiny lights stand over this cabaret.Men and women jovially emboldenedStroll beneath the curtained entrance,And their laughs, like softly brazen cow-bells,Change the scene to a strange Pastoral.Hectic shepherdesses drunk with night,Women mingle their coquettish colours....Suddenly, a man leaps outFrom the doorway’s blazing pallor,Smashing into the drab sidewalk.His drunken lips and eyelids break apartLike a clown in sudden suicide.Then the mottled nakednessOf the scene comes, like a blow.
Stoically crushed in hovering greyNight lies coldly on this street.Momentary sounds crash into nightLike ghostly curses stifled in their birth....And over all the blankly box-like buildingsRaise their sodden architectureInto the poised lyric of the sky.
Words in this poem 45
- blankly adv.
- In a blank manner; without expression; vacuously; as, to stare blankly. G. Eliot.
- confetti n.
- Bonbons; sweetmeats; confections; also, plaster or paper imitations of, or substitutes for, bonbons, often used by carnival revelers, at weddings, etc.
- blink v. i.
- To wink; to twinkle with, or as with, the eye. [OE. blenken; akin to dan. blinke, Sw. blinka, G. blinken to shine, glance, wink, twinkle, D. blinken to shine; and prob. to D. blikken to glance, twinkle, G. bl]
- ornate a.
- Adorned; decorated; beautiful. [L. ornatus, p. p. of ornare to adorn.]
- sleekly adv.
- In a sleek manner; smoothly.
- sulkily adv.
- In a sulky manner.
- tigress n.
- The female of the tiger. Holland. [From Tiger: cf. F. tigresse.]
- brawny a.
- Having large, strong muscles; muscular; fleshy; strong.
- waltz n.
- A dance performed by two persons in circular figures with a whirling motion; also, a piece of music composed in triple measure for this kind of dance. [G. walzer, from walzen to roll, revolve, dance, OHG. walzan to roll; akin to AS. wealtan. See Welter.]
- amidst prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- nook n.
- A narrow place formed by an angle in bodies or between bodies; a corner; a recess; a secluded retreat. [OE. nok; cf. Gael. & Ir. niuc.]
- newsboy n.
- A boy who distributes or sells newspaper.
- elfin a.
- Relating to elves.
- staidly adv.
- In a staid manner, sedately.
- wintry a.
- Suitable to winter; resembling winter, or what belongs to winter; brumal; hyemal; cold; stormy; wintery. [AS. wintrig.]
- twinkling n.
- The act of one who, or of that which, twinkles; a quick movement of the eye; a wink; a twinkle. Holland.
- rakishly adv.
- In a rakish manner.
- sidle v. t.
- To go or move with one side foremost; to move sidewise; as, to sidle through a crowd or narrow opening. [From Side.]
- dinginess n.
- Quality of being dingy; a dusky hue.
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
- smouldering a.
- Being in a state of suppressed activity; quiet but not dead.
- uncertainly adv.
- In an uncertain manner.
- sternness n.
- The quality or state of being stern.
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- blackly adv.
- In a black manner; darkly, in color; gloomily; threateningly; atrociously.
- stubbled a.
- Covered with stubble.
- indifferently adv.
- In an indifferent manner; without distinction or preference; impartially; without concern, wish, affection, or aversion; tolerably; passably.
- tawdrily adv.
- In a tawdry manner.
- theatre n.
- An edifice in which dramatic performances or spectacles are exhibited for the amusement of spectators; anciently uncovered, except the stage, but in modern times roofed. [F. thé\'83tre, L. theatrum, Gr. dhya to meditate, think. Cf. Theory.]
- rotund n.
- A rotunds. Burke.
- clerk n.
- A clergyman or ecclesiastic. [Either OF. clerc, fr. L. clericus a priest, or AS. clerc, cleric, clerk, priest, fr. L. clericus, fr. Gr. Clergy.]
- stolid a.
- Hopelessly insensible or stupid; not easily aroused or excited; dull; impassive; foolish. [L. stolidus.]
- dully adv.
- In a dull manner; stupidly; slowly; sluggishly; without life or spirit.
- mutely adv.
- Without uttering words or sounds; in a mute manner; silently.
- cabaret n.
- A tavern; a house where liquors are retailed. [Obs. as an English word.] [F.]
- jovially adv.
- In a jovial manner; merrily; gayly. B. Jonson.
- hectic a.
- Habitual; constitutional; pertaining especially to slow waste of animal tissue, as in consumption; as, a hectic type in disease; a hectic flush. [F. hectique, Gr. sah to overpower, endure; cf. AS. sige, sigor, victory, G. sieg, Goth. sigis. Cf. Scheme.]
- coquettish a.
- Practicing or exhibiting coquetry; alluring; enticing.
- doorway n.
- The passage of a door; entrance way into a house or a room.
- pallor n.
- Paleness; want of color; pallidity; as, pallor of the complexion. Jer. Taylor. [L., fr. pallere to be or look pale. See Pale, a.]
- sidewalk n.
- A walk for foot passengers at the side of a street or road; a foot pavement. [U.S.]
- nakedness n.
- The condition of being naked.
- coldly adv.
- In a cold manner; without warmth, animation, or feeling; with indifference; calmly.
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
South State Street: Chicago 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, South State Street: Chicago, in Advice: A Book of Poems (1920), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60252, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bodenheim-advice/south-state-street-chicago.html, id L23404.
Form and metre
South State Street: Chicago is 112 lines in 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
See other poems in trochaic 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.
- 2 --AA--A---BB----------------------CC---DD-- street · caught · laneA · womanA · complacent · sugar · manA · suit · crowd · sword · girlB · withdrawalB · scorn · crowd · newsboy · face · intimately · soul · woman · eyes · revelation · hatred · girls · coats · words · parades · brummel · impudence · out · past · day · restlessness · hips · girls · dressesC · eyesC · corner · warrior · crowd · disdainD · domainD · uncertainly · sternness
- 3 -AB--C----A----CB- stray · entranceA · vagrantB · him · emptiness · eyesC · out · air · hate · it · entranceA · hugs · bosom · herself · face · eyesC · vagrantB · touch
- 4 -AA----------- crowd · feetA · streetA · theatre · girls · walks · grass · clerk · stridency · him · youth · mask · white · aged
- 5 A--A----------- romanceA · cabaret · emboldened · entranceA · bells · pastoral · night · colours · out · pallor · sidewalk · apart · suicide · nakedness · blow
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 trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Rows of blankly box-like buildings | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Raise their sodden architecture | 8 | ··/˘/˘·˘ |
| Into the poised lyric of the sky. | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| At their feet, pawn-shops and burlesque theatres | 10 | ······˘//˘ |
| Yawn beneath their livid confetti. | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| In the pawn-shop windows, violins, | 8 | ····/˘˘/ |
| Cut-glass bowls and satchels mildly blink | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Upon the mottled turbulence outside, | 9 | ···/˘/˘// |
| And sit with that detached assurance | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
| Gripping things inanimate. | 7 | /˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Near them, slyly shaded cabarets | 9 | ··/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Stand in bland and ornate sleep, | 7 | ····˘/· |
| And the glassy luridness | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Of penny-arcades flays the eyes. | 8 | ·/˘˘/··· |
| The black crowd clatters like an idiot’s wrath. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Wander with me down this street | 7 | /˘····· |
| Where the spectral night is caught | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Like moon-paint on a colourless lane.... | 9 | ········· |
| On this corner stands a woman | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Sleekly, sulkily complacent | 8 | /˘/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Like a tigress nibbling bits of sugar. | 10 | ··/˘/˘··/˘ |
| At her side, a brawny, white-faced man | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Whose fingers waltz upon his checkered suit, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Searches for one face amidst the crowd. | 9 | /˘···˘/·· |
| (His smile is like a rambling sword.) | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| His elbows almost touch a snowy girl | 10 | ·/·/···/˘· |
| Whose body blooms with cool withdrawal. | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| From her little nook of peaceful scorn | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| She casts unseeing eyes upon the crowd. | 9 | ········· |
| Near her stands a weary newsboy | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| With a sullenly elfin face. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The night has leaned too intimately | 9 | ·····/˘˘˘ |
| On the frightened scampering of his soul. | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| But to this old, staidly patient woman | 10 | ····/˘/˘/˘ |
| With her softly wintry eyes, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Night bends down in gentle revelation | 10 | ····/˘·˘/˘ |
| Undisturbed by joy or hatred. | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| At her side two factory girls | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| In slyly jaunty hats and swaggering coats, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Weave a twinkling summer with their words: | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| A summer where the night parades | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Rakishly, and like a gold Beau Brummel. | 10 | /˘˘·····/˘ |
| With a gnome-like impudence | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| They thrust their little, pink tongues out | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| At men who sidle past. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| To them, the frantic dinginess of day | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| Has melted to caressing restlessness | 9 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Tingling with the pride of breasts and hips. | 9 | /˘······· |
| At their side two dainty, languid girls | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| Playing with their suavely tangled dresses, | 11 | /˘·····/˘/˘ |
| Touch the black crowd with unsearching eyes. | 9 | ········· |
| But the old man on the corner, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Bending over his cane like some tired warrior | 10 | /˘·····//˘ |
| Resting on a sword, peers at the crowd | 9 | /˘······· |
| With the smouldering disdain | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Of a King whipped out of his domain. | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| For a moment he smiles uncertainly. | 9 | ··/˘··˘/˘ |
| Then wears a look of frail sternness. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Musty, Rabelaisian odours stray | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| From this naïvely gilded family-entrance | 11 | ·····/˘/˘/˘ |
| And make the body of a vagrant | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Quiver as though unseen roses grazed him. | 10 | /˘··˘//˘·· |
| His face is blackly stubbled emptiness | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| Swerving to the rotted prayers of eyes. | 9 | /˘··/˘··· |
| Yet, sometimes his thin arm leaps out | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| And hangs a moment in the air, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As though he raised a violin of hate | 9 | ·····˘/·· |
| And lacked the strength to play it. | 8 | ··˘····· |
| A woman lurches from the family-entrance. | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| With tense solicitude she hugs | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Her can of beer against her stunted bosom | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| And mumbles to herself. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| The trampled blasphemy upon her face | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Holds up, in death, its watery, barren eyes. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Indifferently, she brushes past the vagrant: | 12 | ˘/˘˘˘·/˘··/˘ |
| Life has peeled away her sense of touch. | 9 | ···˘/···· |
| With groping majesty, the endless crowd | 9 | ·/˘/˘·/˘· |
| Pounds its searching chant of feet | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Down this tawdrily resplendent street. | 9 | ··/˘˘˘/˘· |
| People stray into a burlesque theatre | 10 | /˘····˘//˘ |
| Framed with scarlet, blankly rotund girls. | 9 | ··/˘/˘˘/· |
| Here a burly cattle-raiser walks | 9 | ··/˘/˘/˘· |
| With the grace of wind-swept prairie grass. | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Behind him steps a slender clerk | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Tendering his sprightly stridency | 9 | /˘˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| To the stolid, doll-like girl beside him. | 10 | ··/˘···˘/· |
| At his side a heavy youth | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Dully stands beneath his swaggering mask; | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| And a smiling man in black and white | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Walks, like some Pierrot grown middle-aged. | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Mutely twinkling fragments of a romance: | 10 | /˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Tiny lights stand over this cabaret. | 9 | /˘·····˘/ |
| Men and women jovially emboldened | 11 | ··/˘/˘˘˘˘/˘ |
| Stroll beneath the curtained entrance, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| And their laughs, like softly brazen cow-bells, | 10 | ····/˘/˘·· |
| Change the scene to a strange Pastoral. | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| Hectic shepherdesses drunk with night, | 9 | /˘······· |
| Women mingle their coquettish colours.... | 10 | /˘/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Suddenly, a man leaps out | 7 | /˘˘···· |
| From the doorway’s blazing pallor, | 8 | ··/·/˘/˘ |
| Smashing into the drab sidewalk. | 8 | /˘····/· |
| His drunken lips and eyelids break apart | 10 | ·/˘··/··˘/ |
| Like a clown in sudden suicide. | 9 | ····/˘/˘· |
| Then the mottled nakedness | 8 | ··/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Of the scene comes, like a blow. | 7 | ······· |
| Stoically crushed in hovering grey | 8 | /˘··/˘˘· |
| Night lies coldly on this street. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Momentary sounds crash into night | 9 | /˘·˘····· |
| Like ghostly curses stifled in their birth.... | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| And over all the blankly box-like buildings | 10 | ····/˘··/˘ |
| Raise their sodden architecture | 8 | ··/˘/˘·˘ |
| Into the poised lyric of the sky. | 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.