Analysis of The House Of Dust: Part 03: 04: Illicit
Conrad Potter Aiken 1889 (Savannah, Georgia) – 1973 (Savannah, Georgia)
Of what she said to me that night—no matter.
The strange thing came next day.
My brain was full of music—something she played me—;
I couldn't remember it all, but phrases of it
Wreathed and wreathed among faint memories,
Seeking for something, trying to tell me something,
Urging to restlessness: verging on grief.
I tried to play the tune, from memory,—
But memory failed: the chords and discords climbed
And found no resolution—only hung there,
And left me morbid . . . Where, then, had I heard it? . . .
What secret dusty chamber was it hinting?
'Dust', it said, 'dust . . . and dust . . . and sunlight . .
A cold clear April evening . . . snow, bedraggled,
Rain-worn snow, dappling the hideous grass . . .
And someone walking alone; and someone saying
That all must end, for the time had come to go . . . '
These were the phrases . . . but behind, beneath them
A greater shadow moved: and in this shadow
I stood and guessed . . . Was it the blue-eyed lady?
The one who always danced in golden slippers—
And had I danced with her,—upon this music?
Or was it further back—the unplumbed twilight
Of childhood?—No—much recenter than that.
You know, without my telling you, how sometimes
A word or name eludes you, and you seek it
Through running ghosts of shadow,—leaping at it,
Lying in wait for it to spring upon it,
Spreading faint snares for it of sense or sound:
Until, of a sudden, as if in a phantom forest,
You hear it, see it flash among the branches,
And scarcely knowing how, suddenly have it—
Well, it was so I followed down this music,
Glimpsing a face in darkness, hearing a cry,
Remembering days forgotten, moods exhausted,
Corners in sunlight, puddles reflecting stars—;
Until, of a sudden, and least of all suspected,
The thing resolved itself: and I remembered
An April afternoon, eight years ago—
Or was it nine?—no matter—call it nine—
A room in which the last of sunlight faded;
A vase of violets, fragrance in white curtains;
And, she who played the same thing later, playing.
She played this tune. And in the middle of it
Abruptly broke it off, letting her hands
Fall in her lap. She sat there so a moment,
With shoulders drooped, then lifted up a rose,
One great white rose, wide opened like a lotos,
And pressed it to her cheek, and closed her eyes.
'You know—we've got to end this—Miriam loves you . . .
If she should ever know, or even guess it,—
What would she do?—Listen!—I'm not absurd . . .
I'm sure of it. If you had eyes, for women—
To understand them—which you've never had—
You'd know it too . . . ' So went this colloquy,
Half humorous, with undertones of pathos,
Half grave, half flippant . . . while her fingers, softly,
Felt for this tune, played it and let it fall,
Now note by singing note, now chord by chord,
Repeating phrases with a kind of pleasure . . .
Was it symbolic of the woman's weakness
That she could neither break it—nor conclude?
It paused . . . and wandered . . . paused again; while she,
Perplexed and tired, half told me I must go,—
Half asked me if I thought I ought to go . . .
Well, April passed with many other evenings,
Evenings like this, with later suns and warmer,
With violets always there, and fragrant curtains . . .
And she was right: and Miriam found it out . . .
And after that, when eight deep years had passed—
Or nine—we met once more,—by accident . . .
But was it just by accident, I wonder,
She played this tune?—Or what, then, was intended? . . .
Scheme | AXBCDEXBXXCEFXXEGXGBXHFX XCCCXXXCHXIXIJGXIKE CXLXDX XCJXXBXBXXAXXBGG XAKXXLAI |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111111110 011111 111111010111 1100101111011 101011100 101101011110 1011001011 1111011100 1100101011 0110101011 01110111111 11010101110 11110101 01110101010 111101001 0110010110 11111011111 10010101011 010110011 11011101110 0111101010 01111001110 111101011 1111111 11011101101 01110110111 1101111011 10011111011 1011111111 01101011001010 11111101010 01010110011 11111101110 1010101001 010010101010 1001100101 0110100111010 01010101010 110011101 1111110111 0101011110 011100100110 01110111010 11110001011 0101111001 10011111010 1101110101 1111110101 0111010101 111111110011 11110111011 1111101101 11111111110 101111101 1111111100 1100110110 11110101010 1111110111 1111011111 01010101110 11010101010 1111011101 1101010111 01010111111 1111111111 11011101010 10111101010 11001101010 01110100111 0101111111 1111111100 11111100110 11111111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 3,427 |
Words | 595 |
Sentences | 86 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 24, 19, 6, 16, 8 |
Lines Amount | 73 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 512 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 130 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 3:00 min read
- 78 Views
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"The House Of Dust: Part 03: 04: Illicit" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/7069/the-house-of-dust%3A-part-03%3A-04%3A-illicit>.
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