Exposition of the Contents of a Cab
Victoria Clementina, negress,Took seven white dogsTo ride in a cab.
Bells of the dogs chinked.Harness of the horses shuffledLike brazen shells.
Oh-hé-hé! Fragrant puppetsBy the green lake-pallors,She too is flesh,And a breech-cloth might wear,Netted of topaz and rubyAnd savage blooms;
Thridding the squawkiest jungleIn a golden sedan,White dogs at bay.
What breech-cloth might you wear,Except linen, embroideredBy elderly women?
Words in this poem
- negress n.
- A black woman; a female negro. [Cf. F. négrese, fem. of négre a negro. See Negro.]
- jungle n.
- A dense growth of brushwood, grasses, reeds, vines, etc.; an almost impenetrable thicket of trees, canes, and reedy vegetation, as in India, Africa, Australia, and Brazil. [Hind. jangal desert, forest, jungle; Skr. ja desert.]
- sedan n.
- A portable chair or covered vehicle for carrying a single person, -- usually borne on poles by two men. Called also sedan chair. [Said to be named from Sedan, in France, where it was first made, and whence it was introduced into England in the time of King Charles I.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Exposition of the Contents of a Cab 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, Exposition of the Contents of a Cab, in Harmonium (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #78743, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stevens-harmonium/exposition-of-the-contents-of-a-cab.html, id L01050.
Form and metre
Exposition of the Contents of a Cab is 18 lines in 5 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.1 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Victoria Clementina, negress, | 10 | ˘/˘˘····/˘ |
| Took seven white dogs | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| To ride in a cab. | 5 | ····· |
| Bells of the dogs chinked. | 5 | ····· |
| Harness of the horses shuffled | 9 | /˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| Like brazen shells. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Oh-hé-hé! Fragrant puppets | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| By the green lake-pallors, | 6 | ······ |
| She too is flesh, | 4 | ···· |
| And a breech-cloth might wear, | 6 | ······ |
| Netted of topaz and ruby | 8 | /˘·/··/˘ |
| And savage blooms; | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Thridding the squawkiest jungle | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| In a golden sedan, | 6 | ··/˘˘/ |
| White dogs at bay. | 4 | ···· |
| What breech-cloth might you wear, | 6 | ······ |
| Except linen, embroidered | 7 | ··/˘˘/˘ |
| By elderly women? | 6 | ·/˘˘/˘ |
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.