Crapulous Impression
Still life, still life ... the high-lights shineHard and sharp on the bottles: the wineStands firmly solid in the glasses,Smooth yellow ice, through which there passesThe lamp's bright pencil of down-struck light.The fruits metallically gleam,Globey in their heaped-up bowl,And there are faces against the nightOf the outer room--faces that seemPart of this still, still life ... they've lost their soul.
And amongst these frozen faces you smiled,Surprised, surprisingly, like a child:And out of the frozen welter of soundYour voice came quietly, quietly."What about God?" you said. "I have foundMuch to be said for Totality.All, I take it, is God: God's all--This bottle, for instance ..." I recall,Dimly, that you took God by the neck--God-in-the-bottle--and pushed Him across:But I, without a moment's lossMoved God-in-the-salt in front and shouted: "Check!"
Words in this poem
- amongst prep.
- Mixed or mingled; surrounded by. [OE. amongist, amonges, amonge, among, AS. onmang, ongemang, gemang, in a crowd or mixture. For the ending -st see Amidst. See Mingle.]
- welter v. i.
- To roll, as the body of an animal; to tumble about, especially in anything foul or defiling; to wallow. [Freq. of OE. walten to roll over, AS. wealtan; akin to LG. weltern, G. walzen to roll, to waltz, sich wälzen to welter, OHG. walzan to roll, Icel. velta, Dan. v]
- dimly adv.
- In a dim or obscure manner; not brightly or clearly; with imperfect sight.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Crapulous Impression is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Defeat of Youth, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #24364; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Aldous Huxley, Crapulous Impression, in The Defeat of Youth, and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #24364, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/huxley-defeat-of-youth/crapulous-impression.html, id L22028.
Form and metre
Crapulous Impression is 22 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%).
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 AABBCDECDE shineA · wineA · glassesB · passesB · lightC · gleamD · bowlE · nightC · seemD · soulE
- 2 AAB-B-CCDEED smiledA · childA · soundB · quietly · foundB · totality · allC · recallC · neckD · acrossE · lossE · checkD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Still life, still life ... the high-lights shine | 8 | ········ |
| Hard and sharp on the bottles: the wine | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Stands firmly solid in the glasses, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Smooth yellow ice, through which there passes | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| The lamp's bright pencil of down-struck light. | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| The fruits metallically gleam, | 8 | ········ |
| Globey in their heaped-up bowl, | 7 | ······· |
| And there are faces against the night | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Of the outer room--faces that seem | 9 | ··/˘·/˘·· |
| Part of this still, still life ... they've lost their soul. | 10 | ·········· |
| And amongst these frozen faces you smiled, | 10 | ····/˘/˘·· |
| Surprised, surprisingly, like a child: | 10 | ˘/˘˘/˘˘··· |
| And out of the frozen welter of sound | 10 | ····/˘/˘·· |
| Your voice came quietly, quietly. | 9 | ···/˘˘/˘˘ |
| "What about God?" you said. "I have found | 9 | ········· |
| Much to be said for Totality. | 9 | ·····˘/˘˘ |
| All, I take it, is God: God's all-- | 8 | ········ |
| This bottle, for instance ..." I recall, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘·˘/ |
| Dimly, that you took God by the neck-- | 9 | /˘······· |
| God-in-the-bottle--and pushed Him across: | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| But I, without a moment's loss | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Moved God-in-the-salt in front and shouted: "Check!" | 11 | ········/˘· |
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.