Aztec Mask
I wanted a man's face looking into the jaws and throat of lifeWith something proud on his face, so proud no smash of the jaws,No gulp of the throat leaves the face in the endWith anything else than the old proud look:Even to the finish, dumped in the dust,Lost among the used-up cinders,This face, men would say, is a flash,Is laid on bones taken from the ribs of the earth,Ready for the hammers of changing, changing years,Ready for the sleeping, sleeping years of silence.Ready for the dust and fire and wind.I wanted this face and I saw it today in an Aztec mask.A cry out of storm and dark, a red yell and a purple prayer,A beaten shape of asheswaiting the sunrise or night,something or nothing,proud-mouthed,proud-eyed gambler.
Words in this poem
- smash v. t.
- To break in pieces by violence; to dash to pieces; to crush. [Cf. Sw. smisk a blow, stroke, smiska to strike, dial. Sw. smaske to kiss with a noise, and E. smack a loud kiss, a slap.]
- gulp v. t.
- To swallow eagerly, or in large draughts; to swallow up; to take down at one swallow. [D. gulpen, cf. OD. golpe gulf.]
- aztec a.
- Of or relating to one of the early races in Mexico that inhabited the great plateau of that country at the time of the Spanish conquest in 1519.
- gambler n.
- One who gambles.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Aztec Mask is in the public domain. This text is taken from Chicago Poems, Wikisource; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Carl Sandburg, Aztec Mask, in Chicago Poems (1916), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sandburg-chicago-poems/aztec-mask.html, id L28930.
Form and metre
Aztec Mask is 18 lines in a single stanza.
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------------ life · jawsA · end · look · dust · cindersA · flash · earth · years · silence · wind · mask · prayer · ashes · night · nothing · mouthed · gambler
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I wanted a man's face looking into the jaws and throat of life | 16 | ·/˘···/˘········ |
| With something proud on his face, so proud no smash of the jaws, | 14 | ·/˘··········· |
| No gulp of the throat leaves the face in the end | 11 | ··········· |
| With anything else than the old proud look: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Even to the finish, dumped in the dust, | 10 | /˘··/˘···· |
| Lost among the used-up cinders, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| This face, men would say, is a flash, | 8 | ········ |
| Is laid on bones taken from the ribs of the earth, | 12 | ····/˘······ |
| Ready for the hammers of changing, changing years, | 12 | /˘··/˘·/˘/˘· |
| Ready for the sleeping, sleeping years of silence. | 12 | /˘··/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Ready for the dust and fire and wind. | 10 | /˘····/˘·· |
| I wanted this face and I saw it today in an Aztec mask. | 16 | ·/˘······˘/··/·· |
| A cry out of storm and dark, a red yell and a purple prayer, | 15 | ············/˘· |
| A beaten shape of ashes | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| waiting the sunrise or night, | 7 | /˘·/··· |
| something or nothing, | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| proud-mouthed, | 2 | ·· |
| proud-eyed gambler. | 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.