Danse Russe
If I when my wife is sleepingand the baby and Kathleenare sleepingand the sun is a flame-white discin silken mistsabove shining trees,--if I in my north roomdanse naked, grotesquelybefore my mirrorwaving my shirt round my headand singing softly to myself:“I am lonely, lonely.I was born to be lonely.I am best so!”If I admire my arms, my facemy shoulders, flanks, buttocksagainst the yellow drawn shades,--
Words in this poem
- disc n.
- A flat round plate; (Biol.) [See Disk, Dish.]
- grotesquely adv.
- In a grotesque manner.
- admire v. t.
- To regard with wonder or astonishment; to view with surprise; to marvel at. [F. admirer, fr. L. admirari; ad + mirari to wonder, for smirari, akin to Gr. smi, and E. smile.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Danse Russe is in the public domain. This text is taken from A Book of Poems, Al Que Quiere!, Project Gutenberg ebook #51997; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Carlos Williams, Danse Russe, in Al Que Quiere! (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51997, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/williams-al-que-quiere/danse-russe.html, id L01116.
Form and metre
Danse Russe is 17 lines in a single stanza. 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.2 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 65% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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--------BB---- sleepingA · kathleen · sleepingA · disc · mists · trees · room · grotesquely · mirror · head · myself · lonelyB · lonelyB · so · face · buttocks · shades
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| If I when my wife is sleeping | 8 | ······/˘ |
| and the baby and Kathleen | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| are sleeping | 3 | ·/˘ |
| and the sun is a flame-white disc | 8 | ········ |
| in silken mists | 4 | ·/˘· |
| above shining trees,-- | 5 | ··/˘· |
| if I in my north room | 6 | ······ |
| danse naked, grotesquely | 6 | ·/˘˘/˘ |
| before my mirror | 5 | ···/˘ |
| waving my shirt round my head | 7 | /˘····· |
| and singing softly to myself: | 8 | ·/˘/˘··/ |
| “I am lonely, lonely. | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| I was born to be lonely. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| I am best so!” | 4 | ···· |
| If I admire my arms, my face | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| my shoulders, flanks, buttocks | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| against the yellow drawn shades,-- | 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.