The Encounter
All the while they were talking the new moralityHer eyes explored me.And when I arose to goHer fingers were like the tissueOf a Japanese paper napkin.
Words in this poem
- napkin n.
- A little towel, or small cloth, esp. one for wiping the fingers and mouth at table. [Dim. of OF. nape a tablecloth, cloth, F. nappe, L. mappa. See Napery.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Encounter is in the public domain. This text is taken from Lustra of Ezra Pound, Project Gutenberg ebook #55564; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ezra Pound, The Encounter, in Lustra (1916), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #55564, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pound-lustra/the-encounter.html, id L01288.
Form and metre
The Encounter is 5 lines in a single stanza. The lines average 8.4 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| All the while they were talking the new morality | 13 | ·····/˘··˘/˘˘ |
| Her eyes explored me. | 5 | ··˘/· |
| And when I arose to go | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Her fingers were like the tissue | 8 | ·/˘···/· |
| Of a Japanese paper napkin. | 9 | ···˘//˘/˘ |
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.