Amelia Garrick
Yes, here I lie close to a stunted rose bushIn a forgotten place near the fenceWhere the thickets from Siever’s woodsHave crept over, growing sparsely.And you, you are a leader in New York,The wife of a noted millionaire,A name in the society columns,Beautiful, admired, magnified perhapsBy the mirage of distance.You have succeeded, I have failedIn the eyes of the world.You are alive, I am dead.Yet I know that I vanquished your spirit;And I know that lying here far from you,Unheard of among your great friendsIn the brilliant world where you move,I am really the unconquerable power over your lifeThat robs it of complete triumph.
Words in this poem
- sparsely adv.
- In a scattered or sparse manner.
- millionaire n.
- One whose wealth is counted by millions of francs, dollars, or pounds; a very rich person; a person worth a million or more. [F. millionnaire.]
- admired a.
- Regarded with wonder and delight; highly prized; as, an admired poem.
- unheard a.
- Not heard; not perceived by the ear; as, words unheard by those present.
- unconquerable a.
- Not conquerable; indomitable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Amelia Garrick is in the public domain. This text is taken from Spoon River Anthology, Project Gutenberg ebook #1280; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edgar Lee Masters, Amelia Garrick, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/amelia-garrick.html, id L07845.
Form and metre
Amelia Garrick is 18 lines in a single verse paragraph. 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%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.1 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 39% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Yes, here I lie close to a stunted rose bush | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| In a forgotten place near the fence | 9 | ··˘/˘···· |
| Where the thickets from Siever’s woods | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| Have crept over, growing sparsely. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| And you, you are a leader in New York, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The wife of a noted millionaire, | 9 | ····/˘·˘/ |
| A name in the society columns, | 10 | ····˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Beautiful, admired, magnified perhaps | 11 | /˘˘˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| By the mirage of distance. | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| You have succeeded, I have failed | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| In the eyes of the world. | 6 | ······ |
| You are alive, I am dead. | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| Yet I know that I vanquished your spirit; | 10 | ·····/˘·/˘ |
| And I know that lying here far from you, | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Unheard of among your great friends | 8 | ˘/······ |
| In the brilliant world where you move, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| I am really the unconquerable power over your life | 16 | ··/˘·˘/˘˘˘/˘···· |
| That robs it of complete triumph. | 8 | ····˘//˘ |
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.