Flirtation
Upon thy purple mat thy body bareIs fine and limber like a tender tree.The motion of thy supple form is rare,Like a lithe panther lolling languidly,Toying and turning slowly in her lair.Oh, I would never ask for more of thee,Thou art so clean in passion and so fair.Enough! if thou wilt ask no more of me!
Words in this poem
- lithe v. i.
- To listen or listen to; to hearken to. P. Plowman. [Icel Listen.]
- lair n.
- A place in which to lie or rest; especially, the bed or couch of a wild beast. [OE. leir, AS. leger; akin to D. leger, G. lager couch, lair, OHG. laga, Goth. ligrs, and to E. lie. See Lie to be prostrate, and cf. Layer, Leaguer.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Flirtation is in the public domain. This text is taken from Harlem shadows, Project Gutenberg ebook #64989; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Claude McKay, Flirtation, in Harlem Shadows (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #64989, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mckay-harlem-shadows/flirtation.html, id L01399.
Form and metre
Flirtation is 8 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 ABA-ABAB bareA · treeB · rareA · languidly · lairA · theeB · fairA · meB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Upon thy purple mat thy body bare | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Is fine and limber like a tender tree. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The motion of thy supple form is rare, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Like a lithe panther lolling languidly, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Toying and turning slowly in her lair. | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Oh, I would never ask for more of thee, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Thou art so clean in passion and so fair. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Enough! if thou wilt ask no more of me! | 10 | ˘/········ |
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.