The Ghetto III
The sturdy Ghetto childrenMarch by the parade,Waving their toy flags,Prancing to the bugles--Lusty, unafraid...Shaking little fire sticksAt the night--The old blinking night--Swerving out of the way,Wrapped in her darkness like a shawl.
But a small girlCowers apart.Her braided head,Shiny as a black-bird'sIn the gleam of the torch-light,Is poised as for flight.Her eyes have the glowOf darkened lights.
She stammers in Yiddish,But I do not understand,And there flits across her faceA shadowAs of a drawn blind.I give her an orange,Large and golden,And she looks at it blankly.I take her little cold hand and try to draw her to me,But she is stiff...Like a doll...
Suddenly she darts through the crowdLike a little white panicBlown along the night--Away from the terror of oncoming feet...And drums rattling like curses in red roaring mouths...And torches spluttering silver fireAnd lights that nose out hiding-places...To the night--Squatting like a hunchbackUnder the curved stoop--The old mammy-nightThat has outlived beauty and knows the ways of fear--The night--wide-opening crooked and comforting arms,Hiding her as in a voluminous skirt.
The sturdy Ghetto childrenMarch by the parade,Waving their toy flags,Prancing to the bugles,Lusty, unafraid.But I see a white frockAnd eyes like hooded lightsOut of the shadow of pogromsWatching... watching...
Words in this poem
- ghetto n.
- The Jews'quarter in an Italian town or city. [It.]
- shiny a.
- Bright; luminous; clear; unclouded.
- yiddish n.
- A language used by German and other Jews, being a Middle German dialect developed under Hebrew and Slavic influence. It is written in Hebrew characters.
- blankly adv.
- In a blank manner; without expression; vacuously; as, to stare blankly. G. Eliot.
- hunchback n.
- A back with a hunch or hump; also, a hunchbacked person. [Cf. Humpback.]
- mammy n.
- A child's name for mamma, mother.
- voluminous a.
- Of or pertaining to volume or volumes. Specifically: -- (a) Consisting of many folds, coils, or convolutions. [L. voluminosus: cf. F. volumineux.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Ghetto 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, The Ghetto III, in The Ghetto, and Other Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4332, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/ridge-ghetto/the-ghetto-iii.html, id L20864.
Form and metre
The Ghetto III is 52 lines in 5 stanzas. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%).
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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-BB-- children · paradeA · flags · bugles · unafraidA · sticks · nightB · nightB · way · shawl
- 2 ----AA-- girl · apart · head · bird's · lightA · flightA · glow · lights
- 4 --A----A--A--- crowd · panic · nightA · feet · mouths · fire · places · nightA · hunchback · stoop · nightA · fear · arms · skirt
- 5 -A--A---- children · paradeA · flags · bugles · unafraidA · frock · lights · pogroms · watching
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. Read against trochaic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The sturdy Ghetto children | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| March by the parade, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Waving their toy flags, | 5 | /˘··· |
| Prancing to the bugles-- | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Lusty, unafraid... | 5 | /˘·˘/ |
| Shaking little fire sticks | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| At the night-- | 3 | ··· |
| The old blinking night-- | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Swerving out of the way, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Wrapped in her darkness like a shawl. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But a small girl | 4 | ···· |
| Cowers apart. | 4 | /˘˘/ |
| Her braided head, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Shiny as a black-bird's | 6 | /˘···· |
| In the gleam of the torch-light, | 7 | ······· |
| Is poised as for flight. | 5 | ····· |
| Her eyes have the glow | 5 | ····· |
| Of darkened lights. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| She stammers in Yiddish, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| But I do not understand, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| And there flits across her face | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| A shadow | 3 | ·/· |
| As of a drawn blind. | 5 | ····· |
| I give her an orange, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Large and golden, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| And she looks at it blankly. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| I take her little cold hand and try to draw her to me, | 14 | ···/˘········· |
| But she is stiff... | 4 | ···· |
| Like a doll... | 3 | ··· |
| Suddenly she darts through the crowd | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| Like a little white panic | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| Blown along the night-- | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| Away from the terror of oncoming feet... | 11 | ˘/··/˘·/·˘· |
| And drums rattling like curses in red roaring mouths... | 12 | ··/˘·/˘··/˘· |
| And torches spluttering silver fire | 10 | ·/˘···/˘/˘ |
| And lights that nose out hiding-places... | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| To the night-- | 3 | ··· |
| Squatting like a hunchback | 6 | /˘··/· |
| Under the curved stoop-- | 5 | ····· |
| The old mammy-night | 5 | ··/˘· |
| That has outlived beauty and knows the ways of fear-- | 12 | ···//˘······ |
| The night--wide-opening crooked and comforting arms, | 13 | ···/˘˘/˘·/˘˘· |
| Hiding her as in a voluminous skirt. | 11 | /˘····˘/˘˘· |
| The sturdy Ghetto children | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| March by the parade, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Waving their toy flags, | 5 | /˘··· |
| Prancing to the bugles, | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Lusty, unafraid. | 5 | /˘·˘/ |
| But I see a white frock | 6 | ······ |
| And eyes like hooded lights | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Out of the shadow of pogroms | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| Watching... watching... | 4 | /˘/˘ |
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.