Stupidity
Dearest, forgive that with my clumsy touchI broke and bruised your rose.I hardly could supposeIt were a thing so fragile that my clutchCould kill it, thus.
It stood so proudly up upon its stem,I knew no thought of fear,And coming very nearFell, overbalanced, to your garment's hem,Tearing it down.
Now, stooping, I upgather, one by one,The crimson petals, allOutspread about my fall.They hold their fragrance still, a blood-red coneOf memory.
And with my words I carve a little jarTo keep their scented dust,Which, opening, you mustBreathe to your soul, and, breathing, know me farMore grieved than you.
Words in this poem
- clumsy a.
- Stiff or benumbed, as with cold. [OE. clumsed benumbed, fr. clumsen to be benumbed; cf. Icel. klumsa lockjaw, dial. Sw. klummsen benumbed with cold. Cf. 1st Clam, and 1st Clamp.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- upgather v. t.
- To gather up; to contract; to draw together.
- outspread v. t.
- To spread out; to expand; -- usually as a past part. or adj.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Stupidity 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, Stupidity, in Sword Blades and Poppy Seed (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1020, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lowell-amy-sword-blades/stupidity.html, id L08211.
Form and metre
Stupidity is 20 lines in 4 stanzas of 5 lines each. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter. 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 45% 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.
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 ABBA- touchA · roseB · supposeB · clutchA · thus
- 2 ABBA- stemA · fearB · nearB · hemA · down
- 3 -AA-- one · allA · fallA · cone · memory
- 4 ABBA- jarA · dustB · mustB · farA · you
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Dearest, forgive that with my clumsy touch | 10 | /˘˘/···/˘· |
| I broke and bruised your rose. | 6 | ······ |
| I hardly could suppose | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| It were a thing so fragile that my clutch | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Could kill it, thus. | 4 | ···· |
| It stood so proudly up upon its stem, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I knew no thought of fear, | 6 | ······ |
| And coming very near | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Fell, overbalanced, to your garment's hem, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Tearing it down. | 4 | /˘·· |
| Now, stooping, I upgather, one by one, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| The crimson petals, all | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Outspread about my fall. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| They hold their fragrance still, a blood-red cone | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of memory. | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| And with my words I carve a little jar | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To keep their scented dust, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Which, opening, you must | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| Breathe to your soul, and, breathing, know me far | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| More grieved than you. | 4 | ···· |
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.