The Game Of Chess
Ezra Pound 1885 (Hailey) – 1972 (Venice)
Red knights, brown bishops, bright queens,
Striking the board, falling in strong ‘L's of
colour.
Reaching and striking in angles,
holding lines in one colour.
This board is alive with light;
these pieces are living in form,
Their moves break and reform the pattern:
luminous green from the rooks,
Clashing with ‘X's of queens,
looped with the knight-leaps.
‘Y' pawns, cleaving, embanking!
Whirl ! Centripetal ! Mate ! King down in the
vortex,
Clash, leaping of bands, straight strips of hard
colour,
Blocked lights working in. Escapes. Renewal of
contest.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 18, 2023
- 27 sec read
- 347 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | abCxcxxxxax xxxxCbx |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 552 |
Words | 89 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 11, 7 |
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"The Game Of Chess" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 Sep. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/13376/the-game-of-chess>.
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