Frank Little at Calvary III
Light...(Breaking mists...Hills gliding like hands out of a slipping hold...)Light over the pit mouths,Streaming in tenuous rays down the black gullets of the Hill...(The copper, insensate, sleeping in the buried lode.)Light...Forcing the clogged windows of arsenals...Probing with long sentient fingers in the copper chips...Gleaming metallic and coldIn numberless slivers of steel...Light over the trestles and the iron clipsOf the black bridge--poised like a gigantic spider motionless--Sweet inquisition of light, like a child's wonder...Intrusive, innocently staring lightThat nothing appals...
Light in the slow fumbling summer leaves,Cooing and callingAll winged and avid thingsWaking the early flies, keen to the scent...Green-jeweled iridescent fliesUnerringly steering--Swarming over the blackened lips,The young day sprays with indiscriminate gold...
Watchman, what of the Hill?
Wheels turn;The laden carsGo rumbling to the mill,And Labor walks beside the mules...All's Well with the Hill!
Words in this poem
- streaming a.
- Sending forth streams.
- tenuous a.
- Thin; slender; small; minute. [L. tenuis thin. See Thin, and cf. Tenuis.]
- insensate a.
- Wanting sensibility; destitute of sense; stupid; foolish. [L. insensatus. See In- not, and Sensate.]
- numberless a.
- Innumerable; countless.
- innocently adv.
- In an innocent manner.
- avid a.
- Longing eagerly for; eager; greedy. [L. avidus, fr. av to long: cf. F. avide. See Avarice.]
- unerringly adv.
- In an unerring manner.
- watchman n.
- One set to watch; a person who keeps guard; a guard; a sentinel.
- rumbling
- a. & n. from Rumble, v. i.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Frank Little at Calvary III 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, Frank Little at Calvary III, in The Ghetto, and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4332, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/ridge-ghetto/frank-little-at-calvary-iii.html, id L20887.
Form and metre
Frank Little at Calvary III is 30 lines in 4 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 A-B---A-CB-C--A- lightA · mists · holdB · mouths · hill · lode · lightA · arsenals · chipsC · coldB · steel · clipsC · motionless · wonder · lightA · appals
- 4 --A-A turn · cars · millA · mules · hillA
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 | · |
| (Breaking mists... | 3 | /˘· |
| Hills gliding like hands out of a slipping hold...) | 11 | ·/˘·····/˘· |
| Light over the pit mouths, | 6 | ······ |
| Streaming in tenuous rays down the black gullets of the Hill... | 15 | /˘·/˘˘····/˘··· |
| (The copper, insensate, sleeping in the buried lode.) | 13 | ·/˘˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Light... | 1 | · |
| Forcing the clogged windows of arsenals... | 10 | /˘··/˘·/˘˘ |
| Probing with long sentient fingers in the copper chips... | 14 | /˘··/˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| Gleaming metallic and cold | 7 | /˘˘/˘·· |
| In numberless slivers of steel... | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘·· |
| Light over the trestles and the iron clips | 11 | ····/˘··/˘· |
| Of the black bridge--poised like a gigantic spider motionless-- | 15 | ·······˘/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Sweet inquisition of light, like a child's wonder... | 12 | ··˘/˘·····/˘ |
| Intrusive, innocently staring light | 10 | ˘/˘/˘˘˘/˘· |
| That nothing appals... | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Light in the slow fumbling summer leaves, | 10 | ····/˘˘/˘· |
| Cooing and calling | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| All winged and avid things | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Waking the early flies, keen to the scent... | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Green-jeweled iridescent flies | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Unerringly steering-- | 6 | ˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Swarming over the blackened lips, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| The young day sprays with indiscriminate gold... | 11 | ·····˘˘/˘˘· |
| Watchman, what of the Hill? | 6 | /˘···· |
| Wheels turn; | 2 | ·· |
| The laden cars | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Go rumbling to the mill, | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| And Labor walks beside the mules... | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| All's Well with the Hill! | 5 | ····· |
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.