Palladiums
In the newspaper office—who are the spooks?Who wears the mythic coat invisible?
Who pussyfoots from desk to deskwith a speaking forefinger?Who gumshoes amid the copy paperwith a whispering thumb?
Speak softly—the sacred cows may hear.Speak easy—the sacred cows must be fed.
Words in this poem
- mythic a.
- Of or relating to myths; described in a myth; of the nature of a myth; fabulous; imaginary; fanciful. [L. mythicus, Gr. Myth.]
- forefinger n.
- The finger next to the thumb; the index.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Palladiums 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, Palladiums, in Cornhuskers (1918), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sandburg-cornhuskers/palladiums.html, id L29040.
Form and metre
Palladiums is 8 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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.
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| In the newspaper office—who are the spooks? | 11 | ··/·˘/˘···· |
| Who wears the mythic coat invisible? | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Who pussyfoots from desk to desk | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| with a speaking forefinger? | 7 | ··/˘/·˘ |
| Who gumshoes amid the copy paper | 10 | ·/·˘/·/˘/˘ |
| with a whispering thumb? | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| Speak softly—the sacred cows may hear. | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| Speak easy—the sacred cows must be fed. | 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.