Broadway
Light!Innumerable ions of light,Kindling, irradiating,All to their foci tending...
Light that jingles like anklet chainsOn bevies of little lithe twinkling feet,Or clingles in myriad vibrationsLike trillions of porcelainVases shattering...
Light over the laminae of roofs,Diffusing in shimmering nebulaeAbout the night's boundaries,Or billowing in pearly foamSubmerging the low-lying stars...
Light for the feast prolonged--Captive light in the goblets quivering...Sparks evanescentStruck of meeting looks--Fringed eyelids leashingSheathed and leaping lights...Infinite bubbles of lightBursting, reforming...Silvery filings of lightIncessantly falling...Scintillant, sided dust of lightOut of the white flares of Broadway--Like a great spurious diamondIn the night's corsage faceted...
Broadway,In ambuscades of light,Drawing the charmed multitudesWith the slow suction of her breath--Dangling her naked soulBehind the blinding gold of eunuch lightsThat wind about her like a bodyguard.
Or like a huge serpent, iridescent-scaled,Trailing her coruscating lengthOver the night prostrate--Triumphant poised,Her hydra heads above the avenues,Values appraisingAnd her avid eyesGlistening with eternal watchfulness...
Broadway--Out of her towers rampant,Like an unsubtle courtezanReserving nought for some adventurous night.
Words in this poem
- anklet n.
- An ornament or a fetter for the ankle; an ankle ring.
- lithe v. i.
- To listen or listen to; to hearken to. P. Plowman. [Icel Listen.]
- twinkling n.
- The act of one who, or of that which, twinkles; a quick movement of the eye; a wink; a twinkle. Holland.
- myriad n.
- The number of ten thousand; ten thousand persons or things. [Gr. myriade.]
- shimmering n.
- A gleam or glimmering.
- evanescent a.
- Liable to vanish or pass away like vapor; vanishing; fleeting; as, evanescent joys. [L. evanescens, -entis, p. pr. of evanescere.]
- incessantly adv.
- Unceasingly; continually.
- scintillant a.
- Emitting sparks, or fine igneous particles; sparkling. M. [L. scintillans, p.pr. of scintillare to sparkle. See Scintillate.]
- corsage n.
- The waist or bodice of a lady's dress; as. a low corsage. [F. See Corset.]
- bodyguard n.
- A guard to protect or defend the person; a lifeguard.
- scaled a.
- Covered with scales, or scalelike structures; -- said of a fish, a reptile, a moth, etc.
- avid a.
- Longing eagerly for; eager; greedy. [L. avidus, fr. av to long: cf. F. avide. See Avarice.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Broadway is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Ghetto, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #4332; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Lola Ridge, Broadway, in The Ghetto, and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4332, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/ridge-ghetto/broadway.html, id L20872.
Form and metre
Broadway is 47 lines in 7 stanzas.
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-- lightA · lightA · irradiating · tending
- 2 A-A-- chainsA · feet · vibrationsA · porcelain · shattering
- 4 ------A-A-A--- prolonged · quivering · evanescent · looks · leashing · lights · lightA · reforming · lightA · falling · lightA · broadway · diamond · faceted
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Light! | 1 | · |
| Innumerable ions of light, | 9 | ˘/˘˘˘/˘·· |
| Kindling, irradiating, | 7 | /˘˘/˘·˘ |
| All to their foci tending... | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Light that jingles like anklet chains | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| On bevies of little lithe twinkling feet, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘˘· |
| Or clingles in myriad vibrations | 9 | ···/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Like trillions of porcelain | 7 | ·/˘·/˘˘ |
| Vases shattering... | 5 | /˘/˘˘ |
| Light over the laminae of roofs, | 8 | ········ |
| Diffusing in shimmering nebulae | 9 | ˘/˘·/˘˘·· |
| About the night's boundaries, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Or billowing in pearly foam | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| Submerging the low-lying stars... | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Light for the feast prolonged-- | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Captive light in the goblets quivering... | 10 | /˘···/˘/˘˘ |
| Sparks evanescent | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Struck of meeting looks-- | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Fringed eyelids leashing | 5 | ·/·/˘ |
| Sheathed and leaping lights... | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Infinite bubbles of light | 7 | /˘˘/˘·· |
| Bursting, reforming... | 5 | /˘˘/˘ |
| Silvery filings of light | 7 | /˘˘/˘·· |
| Incessantly falling... | 6 | ˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Scintillant, sided dust of light | 8 | /˘˘/˘··· |
| Out of the white flares of Broadway-- | 8 | ······/· |
| Like a great spurious diamond | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| In the night's corsage faceted... | 8 | ···˘//˘˘ |
| Broadway, | 2 | /· |
| In ambuscades of light, | 6 | ······ |
| Drawing the charmed multitudes | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| With the slow suction of her breath-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Dangling her naked soul | 7 | /˘˘·/˘· |
| Behind the blinding gold of eunuch lights | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| That wind about her like a bodyguard. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Or like a huge serpent, iridescent-scaled, | 11 | ····/˘·˘/˘· |
| Trailing her coruscating length | 8 | /˘······ |
| Over the night prostrate-- | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Triumphant poised, | 4 | ˘/˘· |
| Her hydra heads above the avenues, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Values appraising | 5 | /˘˘/˘ |
| And her avid eyes | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Glistening with eternal watchfulness... | 10 | /˘˘·˘/˘··· |
| Broadway-- | 2 | /· |
| Out of her towers rampant, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Like an unsubtle courtezan | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Reserving nought for some adventurous night. | 11 | ˘/˘···˘/˘˘· |
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.