Theory
Women understand this.One is not duchessA hundred yards from a carriage.
These, then are portraits:A black vestibule;A high bed sheltered by curtains.
Words in this poem
- duchess n.
- The wife or widow of a duke; also, a lady who has the sovereignty of a duchy in her own right. [F. duchesse, fr. duc duke.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Theory 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, Theory, in Harmonium (1923), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #78743, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/stevens-harmonium/theory.html, id L01070.
Form and metre
Theory is 6 lines in 2 stanzas of 3 lines each. The metre is dactylic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.5 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in dactylic dimeter.
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 AA- thisA · duchessA · carriage
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 dactylic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Women understand this. | 6 | /˘·˘/· |
| One is not duchess | 5 | ···/˘ |
| A hundred yards from a carriage. | 9 | ·/˘˘···/˘ |
| These, then are portraits: | 5 | ···/˘ |
| A black vestibule; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| A high bed sheltered by curtains. | 9 | ···/˘˘·/˘ |
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.