Faces
A late snow beatsWith cold white fists upon the tenements--Hurriedly drawing blinds and shutters,Like tall old slatternsPulling aprons about their heads.
Lights slanting out of Mott StreetGibber out,Or dribble through bar-room slits,Anonymous shapesConniving behind shuttered panesCaper and disappear...Where the BoweryIs throbbing like a fistulaBack of her ice-scabbed fronts.
Livid facesGlimmer in furtive doorways,Or spill out of the black pockets of alleys,Smears of faces like muddied beads,Making a ghastly rosaryThe night mumbles overAnd the snow with its devilish and silken whisper...Patrolling arcsBlowing shrill blasts over the Bread LineStalk them as they pass,Silent as though accouched of the darkness,And the wind noses among them,Like a skunkThat roots about the heart...
Colder:And the Elevated slams upon the silenceLike a ponderous door.Then all is still again,Save for the wind fumbling overThe emptily swaying faces--The wind rummagingLike an old Jew...
Faces in glimmering rows...(No sign of the abject life--Not even a blasphemy...)But the spindle legs keep timeTo a limping rhythm,And the shadows twitch upon the snowConvulsively--As though death playedWith some ungainly dolls.
Words in this poem
- mott v.
- May; must; might. [See Must, v.]
- gibber n.
- A balky horse. Youatt. [From Gib to balk.]
- dribble v. i.
- To fall in drops or small drops, or in a quick succession of drops; as, water dribbles from the eaves. [Freq. of drib, which is a variant of drip.]
- shuttered a.
- Furnished with shutters.
- bowery a.
- Shading, like a bower; full of bowers.
- furtive a.
- Stolen; obtained or characterized by stealth; sly; secret; stealthy; as, a furtive look. Prior. [L. furtivus, fr. furtum theft, fr. fur thief, akin to ferre to bear: cf. F. furtif. See Fertile.]
- spill n.
- A bit of wood split off; a splinter. [sq. root170. Cf. Spell a splinter.]
- rosary n.
- A bed of roses, or place where roses grow. [LL. rosarium a string of beads, L. rosarium a place planted with roses, rosa a rose: cf. F. rosaire. See Rose.]
- abject a.
- Cast down; low-lying. [L. abjectus, p. p. of abjicere to throw away; ab + jacere to throw. See Jet a shooting forth.]
- convulsively adv.
- in a convulsive manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Faces 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, Faces, in The Ghetto, and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4332, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/ridge-ghetto/faces.html, id L20879.
Form and metre
Faces is 45 lines in 5 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.
- 3 AAA------BB--- facesA · doorwaysA · alleysA · beads · rosary · over · whisper · arcs · line · passB · darknessB · them · skunk · heart
- 5 ---AA---- rows · life · blasphemy · timeA · rhythmA · snow · convulsively · played · dolls
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A late snow beats | 4 | ···· |
| With cold white fists upon the tenements-- | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Hurriedly drawing blinds and shutters, | 9 | /˘˘/˘··/˘ |
| Like tall old slatterns | 5 | ····· |
| Pulling aprons about their heads. | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Lights slanting out of Mott Street | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Gibber out, | 3 | /˘· |
| Or dribble through bar-room slits, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Anonymous shapes | 5 | ˘/˘˘· |
| Conniving behind shuttered panes | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Caper and disappear... | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| Where the Bowery | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| Is throbbing like a fistula | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Back of her ice-scabbed fronts. | 6 | ······ |
| Livid faces | 4 | /˘/˘ |
| Glimmer in furtive doorways, | 7 | /˘·/˘/· |
| Or spill out of the black pockets of alleys, | 11 | ······/˘·/˘ |
| Smears of faces like muddied beads, | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| Making a ghastly rosary | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| The night mumbles over | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| And the snow with its devilish and silken whisper... | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Patrolling arcs | 4 | ˘/˘· |
| Blowing shrill blasts over the Bread Line | 9 | /˘······· |
| Stalk them as they pass, | 5 | ····· |
| Silent as though accouched of the darkness, | 10 | /˘······/˘ |
| And the wind noses among them, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Like a skunk | 3 | ··· |
| That roots about the heart... | 6 | ······ |
| Colder: | 2 | /˘ |
| And the Elevated slams upon the silence | 12 | ··/˘·˘····/˘ |
| Like a ponderous door. | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| Then all is still again, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Save for the wind fumbling over | 9 | ····/˘˘·· |
| The emptily swaying faces-- | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| The wind rummaging | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| Like an old Jew... | 4 | ···· |
| Faces in glimmering rows... | 7 | /˘·/˘˘· |
| (No sign of the abject life-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Not even a blasphemy...) | 7 | ·/˘·/˘˘ |
| But the spindle legs keep time | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| To a limping rhythm, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| And the shadows twitch upon the snow | 9 | ··/······ |
| Convulsively-- | 4 | ˘/˘˘ |
| As though death played | 4 | ···· |
| With some ungainly dolls. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
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.