The Curtains in the House of the Metaphysician
It comes about that the drifting of these curtainsIs full of long motions; as the ponderousDeflations of distance; or as cloudsInseparable from their afternoons;Or the changing of light, the droppingOf the silence, wide sleep and solitudeOf night, in which all motionIs beyond us, as the firmament,Up-rising and down-falling, baresThe last largeness, bold to see.
Words in this poem
- firmament n.
- Fixed foundation; established basis. [L. firmamentum, fr. firmare to make firm: cf. F. firmament. See Firm, v. & a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Curtains in the House of the Metaphysician 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, The Curtains in the House of the Metaphysician, in Harmonium (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #78743, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stevens-harmonium/the-curtains-in-the-house-of-the-metaphysician.html, id L01044.
Form and metre
The Curtains in the House of the Metaphysician is 10 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%). 79% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.2 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 70% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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.
- 1 A--A------ curtainsA · ponderous · clouds · afternoonsA · dropping · solitude · motion · firmament · bares · see
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 |
|---|---|---|
| It comes about that the drifting of these curtains | 12 | ······/˘··/˘ |
| Is full of long motions; as the ponderous | 11 | ····/˘··/˘˘ |
| Deflations of distance; or as clouds | 9 | ˘/˘·/˘··· |
| Inseparable from their afternoons; | 10 | ˘/˘˘˘···˘/ |
| Or the changing of light, the dropping | 9 | ··/˘···/˘ |
| Of the silence, wide sleep and solitude | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| Of night, in which all motion | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Is beyond us, as the firmament, | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| Up-rising and down-falling, bares | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The last largeness, bold to see. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
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.