The Louse-Hunters
When the child's forehead, full of torments red,Cries out for sleep and its pale host of dreams,His two big sisters come unto his bed,Having long fingers, tipped with silvery gleams.
They set him at a casement, open wideOn seas of flowers that stir in the blue airs,And through his curls, all wet with dew, they slideThose terrible searching finger-tips of theirs.
He hears them breathing, softly, fearfully,Honey-sweet ruminations, slow respired:Then a sharp hiss breaks time and melody--Spittle indrawn, old kisses new-desired.
Down through the perfumed silences he hearsTheir eyelids fluttering: long fingers thrill,Probing a lassitude bedimmed with tears,While the nails crunch at every louse they kill.
He is drunk with Languor--soft accordion-sigh,Delirious wine of Love in Idleness;Longings for tears come welling up and die,As slow or swift he feels their magical caress.
Words in this poem
- casement n.
- A window sash opening on hinges affixed to the upright side of the frame into which it is fitted. (Poetically) A window. [Shortened fr. encasement. See Incase 1st Case, and cf. Incasement.]
- fearfully adv.
- In a fearful manner.
- lassitude n.
- A condition of the body, or mind, when its voluntary functions are performed with difficulty, and only by a strong exertion of the will; languor; debility; weariness. [L. lassitudo, fr. lassus faint, weary; akin to E. late: cf. F. lassitude. See Late.]
- crunch v. i.
- To chew with force and noise; to craunch. [Prob. of imitative origin; or cf. D. schransen to eat heartily, or E. scrunch.]
- caress n.
- An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness. [F. caresse, It. carezza, LL. caritia dearness, fr. L. carus dear. See Charity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Louse-Hunters 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, The Louse-Hunters, in The Defeat of Youth, and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #24364, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/huxley-defeat-of-youth/the-louse-hunters.html, id L22041.
Form and metre
The Louse-Hunters is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%).
See other poems in iambic 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.
- 1 ABAB redA · dreamsB · bedA · gleamsB
- 2 ABAB wideA · airsB · slideA · theirsB
- 3 -A-A fearfully · respiredA · melody · desiredA
- 4 ABAB hearsA · thrillB · tearsA · killB
- 5 ABAB sighA · idlenessB · dieA · caressB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When the child's forehead, full of torments red, | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Cries out for sleep and its pale host of dreams, | 10 | ·········· |
| His two big sisters come unto his bed, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Having long fingers, tipped with silvery gleams. | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| They set him at a casement, open wide | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| On seas of flowers that stir in the blue airs, | 10 | ···/······ |
| And through his curls, all wet with dew, they slide | 10 | ·········· |
| Those terrible searching finger-tips of theirs. | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| He hears them breathing, softly, fearfully, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Honey-sweet ruminations, slow respired: | 10 | /˘··˘/˘··· |
| Then a sharp hiss breaks time and melody-- | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Spittle indrawn, old kisses new-desired. | 11 | /˘/˘·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Down through the perfumed silences he hears | 10 | ···˘//˘˘·· |
| Their eyelids fluttering: long fingers thrill, | 10 | ·/·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Probing a lassitude bedimmed with tears, | 10 | /˘·/˘˘···· |
| While the nails crunch at every louse they kill. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| He is drunk with Languor--soft accordion-sigh, | 11 | ····/˘·˘/˘· |
| Delirious wine of Love in Idleness; | 11 | ˘/˘˘····/˘˘ |
| Longings for tears come welling up and die, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| As slow or swift he feels their magical caress. | 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.