Alix
The mare Alix breaks the world's trotting record one day. I see her heels flash down the dust of an Illinois race track on a summer afternoon. I see the timekeepers put their heads together over stopwatches, and call to the grand stand a split second is clipped off the old world's record and a new world's record fixed.
I see the mare Alix led away by men in undershirts and streaked faces. Dripping Alix in foam of white on the harness and shafts. And the men in undershirts kiss her ears and rub her nose, and tie blankets on her, and take her away to have the sweat sponged.
I see the grand stand jammed with prairie people yelling themselves hoarse. Almost the grand stand and the crowd of thousands are one pair of legs and one voice standing up and yelling hurrah.
I see the driver of Alix and the owner smothered in a fury of handshakes, a mob of caresses. I see the wives of the driver and owner smothered in a crush of white summer dresses and parasols.
Hours later, at sundown, gray dew creeping on the sod and sheds, I see Alix again:Dark, shining-velvet Alix,Night-sky Alix in a gray blanket,Led back and forth by a nigger.Velvet and night-eyed AlixWith slim legs of steel.
And I want to rub my nose against the nose of the mare Alix.
Words in this poem
- illinois n.
- A tribe of North American Indians, which formerly occupied the region between the Wabash and Mississippi rivers.
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- dripping n.
- A falling in drops, or the sound so made.
- hurrah interj.
- A word used as a shout of joy, triumph, applause, encouragement, or welcome. [Cf. G., Dan., & Sw. hurra. Cf. Huzza.]
- sundown n.
- The setting of the sun; sunset.
- nigger n.
- A negro; -- in vulgar derision or depreciation.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Alix is in the public domain. This text is taken from Cornhuskers, 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, Alix, in Cornhuskers (1918), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sandburg-cornhuskers/alix.html, id L29013.
Form and metre
Alix is 11 lines in 6 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic tetrameter.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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.
- 5 -A--A- again · alixA · blanket · nigger · alixA · steel
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 iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The mare Alix breaks the world's trotting record one day. I see her heels flash down the dust of an Illinois race track on a summer afternoon. I see the timekeepers put their heads together over stopwatches, and call to the grand stand a split second is clipped off the old world's record and a new world's record fixed. | 78 | ··/˘···/˘˘/·············˘/····/˘·˘/··········˘/˘··/·˘········/˘······˘/····˘/· |
| I see the mare Alix led away by men in undershirts and streaked faces. Dripping Alix in foam of white on the harness and shafts. And the men in undershirts kiss her ears and rub her nose, and tie blankets on her, and take her away to have the sweat sponged. | 63 | ····/˘·˘/···/˘···/˘/˘/˘······/˘······/˘··········/˘·····˘/····· |
| I see the grand stand jammed with prairie people yelling themselves hoarse. Almost the grand stand and the crowd of thousands are one pair of legs and one voice standing up and yelling hurrah. | 43 | ·······/˘/˘/˘˘/·/········/˘········/˘··/˘˘/ |
| I see the driver of Alix and the owner smothered in a fury of handshakes, a mob of caresses. I see the wives of the driver and owner smothered in a crush of white summer dresses and parasols. | 53 | ···/˘·/˘··/˘/˘··/˘·/····˘/˘······/˘·/˘/˘·····/˘/˘···· |
| Hours later, at sundown, gray dew creeping on the sod and sheds, I see Alix again: | 22 | /˘/˘·/···/˘·······/˘˘/ |
| Dark, shining-velvet Alix, | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Night-sky Alix in a gray blanket, | 9 | ··/˘···/˘ |
| Led back and forth by a nigger. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Velvet and night-eyed Alix | 7 | /˘···/˘ |
| With slim legs of steel. | 5 | ····· |
| And I want to rub my nose against the nose of the mare Alix. | 16 | ··············/˘ |
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.