The Ghetto I
Cool, inaccessible airIs floating in velvety blackness shot with steel-blue lights,But no breath stirs the heatLeaning its ponderous bulk upon the GhettoAnd most on Hester street...
The heat...Nosing in the body's overflow,Like a beast pressing its great steaming belly close,Covering all avenues of air...
The heat in Hester street,Heaped like a drayWith the garbage of the world.
Bodies dangle from the fire escapesOr sprawl over the stoops...Upturned faces glimmer pallidly--Herring-yellow faces, spotted as with a mold,And moist faces of girlsLike dank white lilies,And infants' faces with open parched mouths that suck at the airas at empty teats.
Young women pass in groups,Converging to the forums and meeting halls,Surging indomitable, slowThrough the gross underbrush of heat.Their heads are uncovered to the stars,And they call to the young men and to one anotherWith a free camaraderie.Only their eyes are ancient and alone...
The street crawls undulant,Like a river addledWith its hot tide of fleshThat ever thickens.Heavy surges of fleshBreak over the pavements,Clavering like a surf--Flesh of this abidingBrood of those ancient mothers who saw the dawn break over Egypt...And turned their cakes upon the dry hot stonesAnd went onTill the gold of the Egyptians fell down off their arms...Fasting and athirst...And yet on...
Did they vision--with those eyes darkly clear,That looked the sun in the face and were not blinded--Across the centuriesThe march of their enduring flesh?Did they hear--Under the molten silenceOf the desert like a stopped wheel--(And the scorpions tick-ticking on the sand...)The infinite procession of those feet?
Words in this poem
- ghetto n.
- The Jews'quarter in an Italian town or city. [It.]
- nosing n.
- That part of the treadboard of a stair which projects over the riser; hence, any like projection, as the projecting edge of a molding.
- dray n.
- A squirrel's nest.
- garbage n.
- Offal, as the bowels of an animal or fish; refuse animal or vegetable matter from a kitchen; hence, anything worthless, disgusting, or loathsome. Grainger. [OE. also garbash, perh. orig., that which is purged or cleansed away; cf. OF. garber to make fine, neat, OHG. garawan to make ready, prepare, akin to E. garb dr]
- dangle v. i.
- To hang loosely, or with a swinging or jerking motion. [Akin to Dan. dangle, dial. Sw. dangla, Dan. dingle, Sw. dingla, Icel. dingla; perh. from E. ding.]
- sprawl v. i.
- To spread and stretch the body or limbs carelessly in a horizontal position; to lie with the limbs stretched out ungracefully. [OE. spraulen; cf. Sw. sprattla to sprawl, dial. Sw. spralla, Dan. spælle, sprælde, D. spartelen, spertelen, to flounder, to struggle.]
- pallidly adv.
- In a pallid manner.
- dank n.
- Moisture; humidity; water.
- underbrush n.
- Shrubs, small trees, and the like, in a wood or forest, growing beneath large trees; undergrowth.
- camaraderie n.
- Comradeship and loyalty.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- athirst a.
- Wanting drink; thirsty. [OE. ofthurst, AS. ofpyrsted, p. p. of ofpyrstan; pref. of-, intensive + pyrstan to thirst. See Thirst.]
- ticking n.
- A strong, closely woven linen or cotton fabric, of which ticks for beds are made. It is usually twilled, and woven in stripes of different colors, as white and blue; -- called also ticken. [From Tick a bed cover. Cf. Ticken.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Ghetto I 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, The Ghetto I, in The Ghetto, and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4332, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/ridge-ghetto/the-ghetto-i.html, id L20862.
Form and metre
The Ghetto I is 51 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 --A-A air · lights · heatA · ghetto · streetA
- 6 --A-A-----B--B undulant · addled · fleshA · thickens · fleshA · pavements · surf · abiding · egypt · stones · onB · arms · athirst · onB
- 7 A---A---- clearA · blinded · centuries · flesh · hearA · silence · wheel · sand · feet
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cool, inaccessible air | 7 | ··˘/˘˘· |
| Is floating in velvety blackness shot with steel-blue lights, | 14 | ·/˘·/˘˘/˘····· |
| But no breath stirs the heat | 6 | ······ |
| Leaning its ponderous bulk upon the Ghetto | 12 | /˘·/˘˘····/˘ |
| And most on Hester street... | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The heat... | 2 | ·· |
| Nosing in the body's overflow, | 9 | /˘··/˘/˘· |
| Like a beast pressing its great steaming belly close, | 12 | ···/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Covering all avenues of air... | 9 | /˘˘·/˘··· |
| The heat in Hester street, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Heaped like a dray | 4 | ···· |
| With the garbage of the world. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Bodies dangle from the fire escapes | 10 | /˘/˘··/˘˘/ |
| Or sprawl over the stoops... | 6 | ······ |
| Upturned faces glimmer pallidly-- | 9 | ˘//˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Herring-yellow faces, spotted as with a mold, | 12 | /˘/˘/˘/˘···· |
| And moist faces of girls | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Like dank white lilies, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| And infants' faces with open parched mouths that suck at the air | 15 | ·/˘/˘·/˘······· |
| as at empty teats. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Young women pass in groups, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Converging to the forums and meeting halls, | 11 | ˘/˘··/˘·/˘· |
| Surging indomitable, slow | 8 | /˘˘/˘˘˘· |
| Through the gross underbrush of heat. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Their heads are uncovered to the stars, | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| And they call to the young men and to one another | 13 | ··········˘/˘ |
| With a free camaraderie. | 8 | ····˘/˘˘ |
| Only their eyes are ancient and alone... | 10 | /˘···/˘·˘/ |
| The street crawls undulant, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Like a river addled | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| With its hot tide of flesh | 6 | ······ |
| That ever thickens. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Heavy surges of flesh | 6 | /˘/˘·· |
| Break over the pavements, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Clavering like a surf-- | 6 | ······ |
| Flesh of this abiding | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Brood of those ancient mothers who saw the dawn break over Egypt... | 16 | ···/˘/˘·······/˘ |
| And turned their cakes upon the dry hot stones | 10 | ·········· |
| And went on | 3 | ··· |
| Till the gold of the Egyptians fell down off their arms... | 13 | ·····˘/˘····· |
| Fasting and athirst... | 5 | /˘·˘/ |
| And yet on... | 3 | ··· |
| Did they vision--with those eyes darkly clear, | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| That looked the sun in the face and were not blinded-- | 12 | ··········/˘ |
| Across the centuries | 6 | ˘/·/˘˘ |
| The march of their enduring flesh? | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Did they hear-- | 3 | ··· |
| Under the molten silence | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Of the desert like a stopped wheel-- | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| (And the scorpions tick-ticking on the sand...) | 11 | ··/˘˘·/˘··· |
| The infinite procession of those feet? | 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.