Miscast I
I have whetted my brain until it is like a Damascus blade,So keen that it nicks off the floating fringes of passers-by,So sharp that the air would turn its edgeWere it to be twisted in flight.Licking passions have bitten their arabesques into it,And the mark of them lies, in and out,Worm-like,With the beauty of corroded copper patterning white steel.My brain is curved like a scimitar,And sighs at its cuttingLike a sickle mowing grass.
But of what use is all this to me!I, who am set to crack stonesIn a country lane!
Words in this poem
- scimitar n.
- A saber with a much curved blade having the edge on the convex side, -- in use among Mohammedans, esp., the Arabs and persians. [F. cimeterre, cf. It. scimitarra, Sp. cimitarra; fr. Biscayan cimetarry with a sharp edge; or corrupted from Per. shimshir.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Miscast I is in the public domain. This text is taken from Sword Blades and Poppy Seed, Project Gutenberg ebook #1020; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Amy Lowell, Miscast I, in Sword Blades and Poppy Seed (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1020, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lowell-amy-sword-blades/miscast-i.html, id L08221.
Form and metre
Miscast I is 14 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.4 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I have whetted my brain until it is like a Damascus blade, | 16 | ··/˘········˘/˘· |
| So keen that it nicks off the floating fringes of passers-by, | 15 | ·······/˘/˘·/˘· |
| So sharp that the air would turn its edge | 9 | ········· |
| Were it to be twisted in flight. | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Licking passions have bitten their arabesques into it, | 14 | /˘/˘·/˘······· |
| And the mark of them lies, in and out, | 9 | ········· |
| Worm-like, | 2 | ·· |
| With the beauty of corroded copper patterning white steel. | 14 | ··/˘·˘/˘/˘/˘·· |
| My brain is curved like a scimitar, | 10 | ····˘····· |
| And sighs at its cutting | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Like a sickle mowing grass. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| But of what use is all this to me! | 9 | ········· |
| I, who am set to crack stones | 7 | ······· |
| In a country lane! | 5 | ··/˘· |
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.