Zilpha Marsh
Edgar Lee Masters 1868 (Garnett) – 1950 (Elkins Park)
At four o'clock in late October
I sat alone in the country school-house
Back from the road 'mid stricken fields,
And an eddy of wind blew leaves on the pane,
And crooned in the flue of the cannon-stove,
With its open door blurring the shadows
With the spectral glow of a dying fire.
In an idle mood I was running the planchette --
All at once my wrist grew limp,
And my hand moved rapidly over the board,
Till the name of "Charles Guiteau" was spelled,
Who threatened to materialize before me.
I rose and fled from the room bare-headed
Into the dusk, afraid of my gift.
And after that the spirits swarmed --
Chaucer, Caesar, Poe and Marlowe,
Cleopatra and Mrs. Surratt --
Wherever I went, with messages, --
Mere trifling twaddle, Spoon River agreed.
You talk nonsense to children, don't you?
And suppose I see what you never saw
And never heard of and have no word for,
I must talk nonsense when you ask me
What it is I see!
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 53 sec read
- 156 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABCDEFAGHGGIGGGJGKGLMNII |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 909 |
Words | 175 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 24 |
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"Zilpha Marsh" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/8752/zilpha-marsh>.
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