Malade
THE sick grapes on the chair by the bed lie prone;at the windowThe tassel of the blind swings gently, tapping thepane,As a little wind comes in.The room is the hollow rind of a fruit, a gourdScooped out and dry, where a spider,Folded in its legs as in a bed,Lies on the dust, watching where is nothing to seebut twilight and walls.
And if the day outside were mine! What is the dayBut a grey cave, with great grey spider-clothshangingLow from the roof, and the wet dust falling softlyfrom themOver the wet dark rocks, the houses, and overThe spiders with white faces, that scuttle on thefloor of the cave!I am choking with creeping, grey confinedness.
But somewhere birds, beside a lake of light, spreadwingsLarger than the largest fans, and rise in a streamupwardsAnd upwards on the sunlight that rains invisible,So that the birds are like one wafted feather,Small and ecstatic suspended over a vast spreadcountry.
Words in this poem
- pane n.
- The narrow edge of a hammer head. See Peen. [F. panne.]
- scuttle n.
- A broad, shallow basket. [AS. scutel a dish, platter; cf. Icel. skutill; both fr. L. scutella, dim. of scutra, scuta, a dish or platter; cf. scutum a shield. Cf. Skillet.]
- choking a.
- That chokes; producing the feeling of strangulation.
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Malade is in the public domain. This text is taken from Amores: Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #22531; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: D. H. Lawrence, Malade, in Amores (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22531, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lawrence-amores/malade.html, id L13579.
Form and metre
Malade is 27 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 59% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic hexameter.
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-BAA---B- proneA · window · theB · paneA · inA · gourd · spider · bed · seeB · walls
- 3 A-----A- spreadA · wings · stream · upwards · invisible · feather · spreadA · country
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| THE sick grapes on the chair by the bed lie prone; | 11 | ··········· |
| at the window | 4 | ··/˘ |
| The tassel of the blind swings gently, tapping the | 12 | ·/˘····/˘/˘· |
| pane, | 1 | · |
| As a little wind comes in. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| The room is the hollow rind of a fruit, a gourd | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| Scooped out and dry, where a spider, | 9 | ·˘·····/˘ |
| Folded in its legs as in a bed, | 9 | /˘······· |
| Lies on the dust, watching where is nothing to see | 12 | ····/˘··/˘·· |
| but twilight and walls. | 5 | ·/··· |
| And if the day outside were mine! What is the day | 12 | ····//······ |
| But a grey cave, with great grey spider-cloths | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| hanging | 2 | /˘ |
| Low from the roof, and the wet dust falling softly | 12 | ········/˘/˘ |
| from them | 2 | ·· |
| Over the wet dark rocks, the houses, and over | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| The spiders with white faces, that scuttle on the | 11 | ·/··/˘·/˘·· |
| floor of the cave! | 4 | ···· |
| I am choking with creeping, grey confinedness. | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
| But somewhere birds, beside a lake of light, spread | 11 | ·/··˘/····· |
| wings | 1 | · |
| Larger than the largest fans, and rise in a stream | 12 | /˘··/˘······ |
| upwards | 2 | /˘ |
| And upwards on the sunlight that rains invisible, | 12 | ·/˘··/···˘/˘ |
| So that the birds are like one wafted feather, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Small and ecstatic suspended over a vast spread | 12 | ··˘/˘˘/˘···· |
| country. | 2 | /˘ |
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.