A Chair

Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) · 1914

25 lines · from Tender Buttons

A widow in a wise veil and more garments shows that shadows are even. Itaddresses no more, it shadows the stage and learning. A regulararrangement, the severest and the most preserved is that which has thearrangement not more than always authorised.

A suitable establishment, well housed, practical, patient and staring, asuitable bedding, very suitable and not more particularly thancomplaining, anything suitable is so necessary.

A fact is that when the direction is just like that, no more, longer,sudden and at the same time not any sofa, the main action is thatwithout a blaming there is no custody.

Practice measurement, practice the sign that means that really means anecessary betrayal, in showing that there is wearing.

Hope, what is a spectacle, a spectacle is the resemblance between thecircular side place and nothing else, nothing else.

To choose it is ended, it is actual and more than that it has itcertainly has the same treat, and a seat all that is practiced and moreeasily much more easily ordinarily.

Pick a barn, a whole barn, and bend more slender accents than have everbeen necessary, shine in the darkness necessarily. Actually not aching,actually not aching, a stubborn bloom is so artificial and even morethan that, it is a spectacle, it is a binding accident, it is animosityand accentuation.

If the chance to dirty diminishing is necessary, if it is why is thereno complexion, why is there no rubbing, why is there no specialprotection.

Words in this poem

authorised a.
Possessed of or endowed with authority; as, an authorized agent.
bedding n.
A bed and its furniture; the materials of a bed, whether for man or beast; bedclothes; litter. [AS. bedding, beding. See Bed.]
betrayal n.
The act or the result of betraying.
aching a.
That aches; continuously painful. See Ache.
animosity n.
Mere spiritedness or courage. Skelton. [F. animosité, fr. L. animositas. See Animose, Animate, v. t.]
accentuation n.
Act of accentuating; applications of accent. Specifically (Eccles. Mus.), [LL. accentuatio: cf. F. accentuation.]
complexion n.
The state of being complex; complexity. [F. complexion, fr. L. complexio. See Complex, a.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

A Chair is in the public domain. This text is taken from Tender Buttons: Objects, Food, Rooms, Project Gutenberg ebook #15396; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Gertrude Stein, A Chair, in Tender Buttons (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #15396, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stein-tender-buttons/objects-a-chair.html, id L28648.

About this section

A Chair is prose, printed in 8 paragraphs. It is part of the edition and is kept for reading, but nothing here is measured: the line breaks are the printer's, so no metre, rhyme scheme or scansion is stated.

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