Young Woman
So we have a faceCupped by tender insolences,Half repenting insolencesTeasing their own angers.Then, a tense exuberanceBrushes them awayAnd burns a humbly erectQueen upon her face.This happens in the spaceBetween a frown and indecision.Her face becomes forlornly wild,And a beggarly impatienceHovers into furtive shame.All the supplely intricate flameVanishes, and leaves no mark.Her eyes are violently darkWith a hopeless waiting;Her lips are isolated tatters--All that is left of shattered recreating.Then, as quickly as she fled,The humble queen returns.Staring and unappeasedShe eyes her crumpled hands.
Words in this poem
- humbly adv.
- With humility; lowly.
- indecision n.
- Want of decision; want of settled purpose, or of firmness; indetermination; wavering of mind; irresolution; vacillation; hesitation. [Pref. in- not + decision: cf. F. indécision.]
- forlornly adv.
- In a forlorn manner. Pollok.
- beggarly a.
- In the condition of, or like, a beggar; suitable for a beggar; extremely indigent; poverty-stricken; mean; poor; contemptible.
- furtive a.
- Stolen; obtained or characterized by stealth; sly; secret; stealthy; as, a furtive look. Prior. [L. furtivus, fr. furtum theft, fr. fur thief, akin to ferre to bear: cf. F. furtif. See Fertile.]
- supplely adv.
- In a supple manner; softly; pliantly; mildly. Cotgrave.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Young Woman 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, Young Woman, in Advice: A Book of Poems (1920), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #60252, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bodenheim-advice/young-woman.html, id L23396.
Form and metre
Young Woman is 23 lines in a single stanza. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABB----AA---CCDDE-E---- faceA · insolencesB · insolencesB · angers · exuberance · away · erect · faceA · spaceA · indecision · wild · impatience · shameC · flameC · markD · darkD · waitingE · tatters · recreatingE · fled · returns · unappeased · hands
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| So we have a face | 5 | ····· |
| Cupped by tender insolences, | 8 | ··/˘/˘˘˘ |
| Half repenting insolences | 8 | ·˘/˘/˘˘˘ |
| Teasing their own angers. | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Then, a tense exuberance | 7 | ···˘/˘˘ |
| Brushes them away | 5 | /˘·˘/ |
| And burns a humbly erect | 7 | ···/˘˘/ |
| Queen upon her face. | 5 | ····· |
| This happens in the space | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Between a frown and indecision. | 9 | ·····˘˘/˘ |
| Her face becomes forlornly wild, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| And a beggarly impatience | 8 | ··/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Hovers into furtive shame. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| All the supplely intricate flame | 8 | ··/˘˘/˘· |
| Vanishes, and leaves no mark. | 7 | /˘˘···· |
| Her eyes are violently dark | 8 | ···/˘˘˘· |
| With a hopeless waiting; | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Her lips are isolated tatters-- | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| All that is left of shattered recreating. | 11 | ·····/˘/˘·˘ |
| Then, as quickly as she fled, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| The humble queen returns. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Staring and unappeased | 7 | /˘····˘ |
| She eyes her crumpled hands. | 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.