Chamfort
There's Chamfort. He's a sample.Locked himself in his library with a gun,Shot off his nose and shot out his right eye.And this Chamfort knew how to writeAnd thousands read his books on how to live,But he himself didn't knowHow to die by force of his own hand—see?They found him a red pool on the carpetCool as an April forenoon,Talking and talking gay maxims and grim epigrams.Well, he wore bandages over his nose and right eye,Drank coffee and chatted many yearsWith men and women who loved himBecause he laughed and daily dared Death:"Come and take me."
Words in this poem
- forenoon n.
- The early part of the day, from morning to meridian, or noon.
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chamfort 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, Chamfort, in Chicago Poems (1916), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sandburg-chicago-poems/chamfort.html, id L28883.
Form and metre
Chamfort is 15 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 --AB--CB--A---C sample · gun · eyeA · writeB · live · know · seeC · carpetB · forenoon · epigrams · eyeA · years · him · death · meC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| There's Chamfort. He's a sample. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Locked himself in his library with a gun, | 11 | ·˘/··/·˘··· |
| Shot off his nose and shot out his right eye. | 10 | ·········· |
| And this Chamfort knew how to write | 8 | ········ |
| And thousands read his books on how to live, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| But he himself didn't know | 7 | ··˘//˘· |
| How to die by force of his own hand—see? | 10 | ·········· |
| They found him a red pool on the carpet | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Cool as an April forenoon, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Talking and talking gay maxims and grim epigrams. | 13 | /˘·/˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Well, he wore bandages over his nose and right eye, | 13 | ···/˘˘······· |
| Drank coffee and chatted many years | 9 | ·/˘·/˘/˘· |
| With men and women who loved him | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Because he laughed and daily dared Death: | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| "Come and take me." | 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.