Sympathetic Portrait of a Child
The murderer’s little daughterwho is barely ten years oldjerks her shouldersright and leftso as to catch a glimpse of mewithout turning round.
Her skinny little armswrap themselvesthis way then thatreversely about her body!Nervouslyshe crushes her straw hatabout her eyesand tilts her headto deepen the shadow--smiling excitedly!
As best as she canshe hides herselfin the full sunlighther cordy legs writhingbeneath the little flowered dressthat leaves them barefrom mid-thigh to ankle--
Words in this poem
- skinny a.
- Consisting, or chiefly consisting, of skin; wanting flesh.
- nervously adv.
- In a nervous manner.
- deepen v. t.
- To make deep or deeper; to increase the depth of; to sink lower; as, to deepen a well or a channel.
- cordy a.
- Of, or like, cord; having cords or cordlike parts.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sympathetic Portrait of a Child 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, Sympathetic Portrait of a Child, in Al Que Quiere! (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #51997, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/williams-al-que-quiere/sympathetic-portrait-of-a-child.html, id L01124.
Form and metre
Sympathetic Portrait of a Child is 23 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.3 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 78% 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.
- 2 --A--A---- arms · themselves · thatA · body · nervously · hatA · eyes · head · shadow · excitedly
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The murderer’s little daughter | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘/˘ |
| who is barely ten years old | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| jerks her shoulders | 4 | ··/˘ |
| right and left | 3 | ··· |
| so as to catch a glimpse of me | 8 | ········ |
| without turning round. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Her skinny little arms | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| wrap themselves | 3 | ·˘/ |
| this way then that | 4 | ···· |
| reversely about her body! | 8 | ˘/˘···/˘ |
| Nervously | 3 | /˘˘ |
| she crushes her straw hat | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| about her eyes | 4 | ···· |
| and tilts her head | 4 | ···· |
| to deepen the shadow-- | 6 | ·/˘·/· |
| smiling excitedly! | 6 | /˘˘/˘˘ |
| As best as she can | 5 | ····· |
| she hides herself | 4 | ··˘/ |
| in the full sunlight | 5 | ···/· |
| her cordy legs writhing | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| beneath the little flowered dress | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| that leaves them bare | 4 | ···· |
| from mid-thigh to ankle-- | 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.