Operation
YOU are carried in a basket,Like a carcase from the shambles,To the theatre, a cockpitWhere they stretch you on a table.
Then they bid you close your eyelids,And they mask you with a napkin,And the anæsthetic reachesHot and subtle through your being.
And you gasp and reel and shudderIn a rushing, swaying rapture,While the voices at your elbowFade—receding—fainter—farther.
Lights about you shower and tumble,And your blood seems crystallising—Edged and vibrant, yet within youRacked and hurried back and forward.
Then the lights grow fast and furious,And you hear a noise of waters,And you wrestle, blind and dizzy,In an agony of effort,
Till a sudden lull accepts you,And you sound an utter darkness . . .And awaken . . . with a struggle . . .On a hushed, attentive audience.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- cockpit n.
- A pit, or inclosed area, for cockfights.
- napkin n.
- A little towel, or small cloth, esp. one for wiping the fingers and mouth at table. [Dim. of OF. nape a tablecloth, cloth, F. nappe, L. mappa. See Napery.]
- gasp v. i.
- To open the mouth wide in catching the breath, or in laborious respiration; to labor for breath; to respire convulsively; to pant violently. [OE. gaspen, gaispen, to yawn, gasp, Icel. geispa to yawn; akin to Sw. gäspa, Dan. gispe to gasp.]
- vibrant a.
- Vibrating; tremulous; resonant; as, vibrant drums. [L. vibrans, p. pr.: cf. F. vibrant. See Vibrate.]
- wrestle v. i.
- To contend, by grappling with, and striving to trip or throw down, an opponent; as, they wrestled skillfully. [OE. wrestlen, wrastlen, AS. wr, freq. of wr to wrest; akin to OD. wrastelen to wrestle. See Wrest, v. t.]
- lull v. t.
- To cause to rest by soothing influences; to compose; to calm; to soothe; to quiet. [Akin to OD. lullen to sing to sleep, G. lullen, Dan. lulle, Sw. lulla; all of imitative origin. Cf. Loll, Lollard.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Operation is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1568; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: W. E. Henley, Operation, in Poems (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1568, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/henley-poems/operation.html, id L12326.
Form and metre
Operation is 24 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 19 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 A-A- basketA · shambles · cockpitA · table
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 |
|---|---|---|
| YOU are carried in a basket, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Like a carcase from the shambles, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| To the theatre, a cockpit | 8 | ··/˘˘·/· |
| Where they stretch you on a table. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Then they bid you close your eyelids, | 8 | ······/· |
| And they mask you with a napkin, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And the anæsthetic reaches | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Hot and subtle through your being. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| And you gasp and reel and shudder | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In a rushing, swaying rapture, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| While the voices at your elbow | 8 | ··/˘··/· |
| Fade—receding—fainter—farther. | 8 | ·˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Lights about you shower and tumble, | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| And your blood seems crystallising— | 8 | ····/˘·˘ |
| Edged and vibrant, yet within you | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Racked and hurried back and forward. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Then the lights grow fast and furious, | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| And you hear a noise of waters, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And you wrestle, blind and dizzy, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| In an agony of effort, | 8 | ··/˘˘·/˘ |
| Till a sudden lull accepts you, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/· |
| And you sound an utter darkness . . . | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| And awaken . . . with a struggle . . . | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| On a hushed, attentive audience. | 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.