Analysis of Mad Women



Painted nails, electric blue hair; lives up by the hill in her solitary lair.
Velvet mouth, words uncouth; defiant eyes,sinister vice.
"Painted her wedding dress a key lime green. What a scandalous display indeed."
"Walks through town in her shimmering dresses that may as well be satiny slips...oh good God, look. Look at that cigarette hanging off her lips."
You will see her, you know, in the shadowed parts of town, dallying with her lovers at the break of dawn.
You will see her, you know, the moon shying away from her eyes. Staring out at the midnight sea like a figure frozen in time.
You will be hers for the night, trapped in the witchlight of her wicked lies.
Stolen kisses, whispered promises; masquerade charades and shredded bodices.
She will be gone before sunrise, every tease of her lips a disguise.
It's her way, she'll weave beautiful tales; leave you shackled in the grip of her magical chains.
It seems she carried all that within, a contradiction beyond your wildest dreams.

"The husband was such a good man, too. Shame he died so young of the flu."
There were vicious sounds of his belt slapping against her skin at night; her sacred vows buried somewhere underneath that gravesite.
Brothel visits and screaming fights, red stains on his collar and bruises on her pride.
A heart gone up in flames, the ashes remained. From the smoke, emerged a witch untamed.
"Well, that's no good excuse to go strutting around like a common whore. Forgiveness is a woman's chore."
It's the princesses that shear off their golden hair, pricked by spindles and stares.
Their dreams and souls, caged in fairytales and folklore.

In the humble dazzle of autumn, amidst leaves of cinnamon red and muddy brown;
he was laid to rest beneath the stony ground.
And in the melody of her keens and cries, her cackles lay hidden in plain sight.
And though her eyes never spoke; I swear I could see, I could fear. That wicked glimmer and her thinly veiled sneer.
It was a few days before the madness took shape; then she was out and about leaving destruction in her wake.
She filled pools with champagne and played dangerous games.
Shed the tullets and the bonnets, there's no women like her in Shakespeare's sonnets.
Gauche dresses, coloured tresses.
If there ever had been something so deadly yet quite so dainty.
Her soul drenched in dynamite, crackling like firecrackers and twinkling like starry nights.

"Oh, hush. Mad in the head. Harlot of the highest order. Don't go making poetry out of that little horror."
She dreamed of time machines and revenge.
No more pretend, she had the entire world still left to offend.
On and on she went, like a radio play on repeat...
"Scandal! Disgrace! A woman of the streets."
With their titles in the finest writing, books with luscious leather-bound covers; memories and secrets and tales of lost princesses in ivory towers.
"Mad, mad, mad in the head! Woman that reads, woman that speaks. Her prospects really do seem bleak."
Gagged her mouth with true love's kisses, bound her hands with rings and dishes.
Chained her thoughts with barbed wire, now she speaks like she breathes fire.
"Mad as a Hatter. Mad as a March hare. Go fight your battles elsewhere."

"Oh, I'll start a battle all right, I'll scream my madness into the night.
My fortress built so high, the curses ricocheting off into the night.
I am not squeals and giggles, not a damsel that will go unnamed.
I am ferocious roars and dragon flames.
The world doesn't like mad women, it likes good little wives. Festering in castles and kitchens, living their eclipsed lives.
The world likes maidens pure and true, not witches with their wicked brews.
So I'll be burnt at the stake, if that's what it'll take.
Make me your scapegoat and stand there and gloat.
But I'm afraid your fire won't scorch the fire within. I'm now made of madness and sin."

"Look, there she goes. That witch, didn't you hear?
Mad in the head, that one. Mad as a March hare.
Painted nails, electric blue hair.
Lives up by the hill in her solitary lair."


Scheme AXBXXXCDCXX XEXBFXF XXEXGHXDXX IXXXXXXXIA EEXHXXGXX XAAA
Poetic Form
Metre 1010101111101001001 10111101011 1001010111101000101 111001001011111111111110110101 11101100101111101010111 111011011001101101101110101001 1110101100110101 1010101000101010100 11110111001101001 1011110011110001101001 1111011010010011101 01011011111111101 101011111001011101011010111 10100101111110010101 0111010100110101011 1111011110011010101010101 10100111110111101 1101101001 001010110011110010101 11111010101 0001001010101110011 01011011111111111010001011 110110101011111100110010001 111101011001 1010011110100110 1101010 1110111011011110 01101010110001001101 1110011010101011101001111010 111101001 1101110010111101 1011110101101 1001010101 11100010101110101101000100111100010010 1110011011101101010111 1011111010111010 101111011111110 1101011011111101 11101011111100101 11011101010010101 1111010101011101 1101010101 01101110111101100010010101011 0111010111011101 1111101111101 111101101 1101110110100111111001 1111111011 10011111011 10101011 11101001001
Characters 4,065
Words 768
Sentences 72
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 11, 7, 10, 10, 9, 4
Lines Amount 51
Letters per line (avg) 62
Words per line (avg) 14
Letters per stanza (avg) 524
Words per stanza (avg) 118

About this poem

This poem is set in a historical setting with the exact nature of the time period and the location left ambiguous to be defined or interpreted by the reader. This is the story of a woman turned sorceress, who terrorizes and entrances her town with her wicked enchantments and audacious schemes. There are several storytellers that shall tell you her tales, all spellbound under different charms. And then she'll tell you her own. Think of it as a fantasy or let it retain its reality. But beware, this is a different kind of a fairytale. It's not the story of the princess. It's the story of the witch. 

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Written on January 15, 2023

Submitted by senguptasaranya21 on January 15, 2023

Modified on March 14, 2023

3:56 min read
0

Saranya

Bibliophile Perpetual existential crisis Cynically romantic Writes, because what better way to immortalize than through the mind? more…

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