A High-Toned Old Christian Woman
Poetry is the supreme fiction, madame.Take the moral law and make a nave of itAnd from the nave build haunted heaven. Thus,The conscience is converted into palms,Like windy citherns hankering for hymns.We agree in principle. That’s clear. But takeThe opposing law and make a peristyle,And from the peristyle project a masqueBeyond the planets. Thus, our bawdiness,Unpurged by epitaph, indulged at last,Is equally converted into palms,Squiggling like saxophones. And palm for palm,Madame, we are where we began. Allow,Therefore, that in the planetary sceneYour disaffected flagellants, well-stuffed,Smacking their muzzy bellies in parade,Proud of such novelties of the sublime,Such tink and tank and tunk-a-tunk-tunk,May, merely may, madame, whip from themselvesA jovial hullabaloo among the spheres.This will make widows wince. But fictive thingsWink as they will. Wink most when widows wince.
Words in this poem
- madame n.
- My lady; -- a French title formerly given to ladies of quality; now, in France, given to all married women. [F., fr. ma my (L. mea) + dame dame. See Dame, and cf. Madonna.]
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
- conscience n.
- Knowledge of one's own thoughts or actions; consciousness. [F. conscience, fr. L. conscientia, fr. consciens, p.pr. of conscire to know, to be conscious; con- + scire to know. See Science.]
- masque n.
- A mask; a masquerade.
- bawdiness n.
- Obscenity; lewdness.
- planetary a.
- Of or pertaining to the planets; as, planetary inhabitants; planetary motions; planetary year. [Cf. L. planetarius an astrologer, F. planétaire planetary. See Planet.]
- disaffected a.
- Alienated in feeling; not wholly loyal. J. H. Newman.
- smacking n.
- A sharp, quick noise; a smack.
- muzzy a.
- Absent-minded; dazed; muddled; stupid. [Cf. F. muse.]
- tink v. i.
- To make a sharp, shrill noise; to tinkle. Wyclif (1 Cor. xiii. [OE. tinken; of imitative origin. Cf. Ting a tinkling, Tinker.]
- jovial a.
- Of or pertaining to the god, or the planet, Jupiter. [F., fr. L. Jovialis pertaining to Jove. The planet Jupiter was thought to make those born under it joyful or jovial. See Jove.]
- hullabaloo n.
- A confused noise; uproar; tumult. Thackeray. [Perh. a corruption of hurly-burly.]
- fictive a.
- Feigned; counterfeit. [Cf. F. fictif.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A High-Toned Old Christian Woman is in the public domain. This text is taken from Harmonium, Project Gutenberg ebook #78743; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Wallace Stevens, A High-Toned Old Christian Woman, in Harmonium (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #78743, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stevens-harmonium/a-high-toned-old-christian-woman.html, id L01041.
Form and metre
A High-Toned Old Christian Woman is 22 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 27% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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----------- madame · it · thus · palmsA · hymns · take · peristyle · masque · bawdiness · last · palmsA · palm · allow · scene · stuffed · parade · sublime · tunk · themselves · spheres · things · wince
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Poetry is the supreme fiction, madame. | 11 | /˘˘··˘//˘˘/ |
| Take the moral law and make a nave of it | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| And from the nave build haunted heaven. Thus, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| The conscience is converted into palms, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Like windy citherns hankering for hymns. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| We agree in principle. That’s clear. But take | 10 | ·˘/·/˘···· |
| The opposing law and make a peristyle, | 11 | ·˘/˘····/˘· |
| And from the peristyle project a masque | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Beyond the planets. Thus, our bawdiness, | 11 | ···/˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| Unpurged by epitaph, indulged at last, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Is equally converted into palms, | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/˘··· |
| Squiggling like saxophones. And palm for palm, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Madame, we are where we began. Allow, | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘/ |
| Therefore, that in the planetary scene | 10 | ·····/˘·˘· |
| Your disaffected flagellants, well-stuffed, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Smacking their muzzy bellies in parade, | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Proud of such novelties of the sublime, | 10 | ···/˘˘··˘/ |
| Such tink and tank and tunk-a-tunk-tunk, | 9 | ········· |
| May, merely may, madame, whip from themselves | 10 | ·/˘·˘/··˘/ |
| A jovial hullabaloo among the spheres. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| This will make widows wince. But fictive things | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Wink as they will. Wink most when widows wince. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
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