Carl Hamblin
The press of the Spoon River Clarion was wrecked,And I was tarred and feathered,For publishing this on the day theAnarchists were hanged in Chicago:“I saw a beautiful woman with bandaged eyesStanding on the steps of a marble temple.Great multitudes passed in front of her,Lifting their faces to her imploringly.In her left hand she held a sword.She was brandishing the sword,Sometimes striking a child, again a laborer,Again a slinking woman, again a lunatic.In her right hand she held a scale;Into the scale pieces of gold were tossedBy those who dodged the strokes of the sword.A man in a black gown read from a manuscript:“She is no respecter of persons.”Then a youth wearing a red capLeaped to her side and snatched away the bandage.And lo, the lashes had been eaten awayFrom the oozy eye-lids;The eye-balls were seared with a milky mucus;The madness of a dying soulWas written on her face—But the multitude saw why she wore the bandage.”
Words in this poem
- clarion n.
- A kind of trumpet, whose note is clear and shrill. [OE. clarioun, OF. clarion, F. clairon, LL. clario, claro; so called from its clear tone, fr. L. clarus clear. See Clear.]
- respecter n.
- One who respects. A respecter of persons, one who regards or judges with partiality.
- seared a.
- Scorched; cauterized; hence, figuratively, insensible; not susceptible to moral influences.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Carl Hamblin 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, Carl Hamblin, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/carl-hamblin.html, id L07852.
Form and metre
Carl Hamblin is 25 lines in a single stanza. 84% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.6 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 24% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 --------AA----A---B--C-CB wrecked · feathered · the · chicago · eyes · temple · her · imploringly · swordA · swordA · laborer · lunatic · scale · tossed · swordA · manuscript · persons · cap · bandageB · away · lids · mucusC · soul · faceC · bandageB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The press of the Spoon River Clarion was wrecked, | 12 | ·····/˘/˘˘·· |
| And I was tarred and feathered, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| For publishing this on the day the | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| Anarchists were hanged in Chicago: | 9 | /˘˘···˘/· |
| “I saw a beautiful woman with bandaged eyes | 12 | ···/˘˘/˘·/˘· |
| Standing on the steps of a marble temple. | 11 | /˘·····/˘/˘ |
| Great multitudes passed in front of her, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Lifting their faces to her imploringly. | 11 | /˘·/˘······ |
| In her left hand she held a sword. | 8 | ········ |
| She was brandishing the sword, | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| Sometimes striking a child, again a laborer, | 12 | ˘//˘··˘/·/˘˘ |
| Again a slinking woman, again a lunatic. | 13 | ˘/···/˘˘/·/˘· |
| In her right hand she held a scale; | 8 | ········ |
| Into the scale pieces of gold were tossed | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| By those who dodged the strokes of the sword. | 9 | ········· |
| A man in a black gown read from a manuscript: | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| “She is no respecter of persons.” | 9 | ···˘/˘·/˘ |
| Then a youth wearing a red cap | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Leaped to her side and snatched away the bandage. | 11 | ······˘/·/˘ |
| And lo, the lashes had been eaten away | 11 | ···/˘··/˘˘/ |
| From the oozy eye-lids; | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| The eye-balls were seared with a milky mucus; | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| The madness of a dying soul | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Was written on her face— | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But the multitude saw why she wore the bandage.” | 12 | ··/˘······/˘ |
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.