Smell!
Oh strong ridged and deeply hollowednose of mine! what will you not be smelling?What tactless asses we are, you and I, boney nose,always indiscriminate, always unashamed,and now it is the souring flowers of the bedraggledpoplars: a festering pulp on the wet earthbeneath them. With what deep thirstwe quicken our desiresto that rank odor of a passing spring-time!Can you not be decent? Can you not reserve your ardorsfor something less unlovely? What girl will carefor us, do you think, if we continue in these ways?Must you taste everything? Must you know everything?Must you have a part in everything?
Words in this poem
- tactless a.
- Destitute of tact.
- souring n.
- Any sour apple.
- unlovely a.
- Not lovely; not amiable; possessing qualities that excite dislike; disagreeable; displeasing; unpleasant.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Smell! 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, Smell!, in Al Que Quiere! (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51997, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/williams-al-que-quiere/smell.html, id L01122.
Form and metre
Smell! is 14 lines in a single stanza. 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.0 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% 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-ABB hollowed · smelling · nose · unashamed · bedraggled · earth · thirst · desiresA · time · ardorsA · care · waysA · everythingB · everythingB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oh strong ridged and deeply hollowed | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| nose of mine! what will you not be smelling? | 10 | ········/˘ |
| What tactless asses we are, you and I, boney nose, | 13 | ·/˘/˘·····/˘· |
| always indiscriminate, always unashamed, | 12 | /·˘˘/˘˘/··˘/ |
| and now it is the souring flowers of the bedraggled | 15 | ·····/˘˘/˘··˘/˘ |
| poplars: a festering pulp on the wet earth | 11 | /˘·/˘˘····· |
| beneath them. With what deep thirst | 7 | ······· |
| we quicken our desires | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| to that rank odor of a passing spring-time! | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·· |
| Can you not be decent? Can you not reserve your ardors | 14 | ····/˘···˘/·/˘ |
| for something less unlovely? What girl will care | 11 | ·/˘·˘/˘···· |
| for us, do you think, if we continue in these ways? | 13 | ·······˘/˘··· |
| Must you taste everything? Must you know everything? | 12 | ···/˘····/˘· |
| Must you have a part in everything? | 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.