The Dinner-party Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDEFGHIJ K LMINIOOPQN R SITUVWHI X YZA2B2C2B2D2 E2 B2IB2F2B2IXN G2 XB2IXB2H2B2B2XEIINZ| Fish | A |
| - | |
| 'So ' they said | B |
| With their wine glasses delicately poised | C |
| Mocking at the thing they cannot understand | D |
| 'So ' they said again | E |
| Amused and insolent | F |
| The silver on the table glittered | G |
| And the red wine in the glasses | H |
| Seemed the blood I had wasted | I |
| In a foolish cause | J |
| - | |
| - | |
| Game | K |
| - | |
| The gentleman with the grey and black whiskers | L |
| Sneered languidly over his quail | M |
| Then my heart flew up and laboured | I |
| And I burst from my own holding | N |
| And hurled myself forward | I |
| With straight blows I beat upon him | O |
| Furiously with red hot anger I thrust against him | O |
| But my weapon slithered over his polished surface | P |
| And I recoiled upon myself | Q |
| Panting | N |
| - | |
| - | |
| Drawing Room | R |
| - | |
| In a dress all softness and half tones | S |
| Indolent and half reclined | I |
| She lay upon a couch | T |
| With the firelight reflected in her jewels | U |
| But her eyes had no reflection | V |
| They swam in a grey smoke | W |
| The smoke of smouldering ashes | H |
| The smoke of her cindered heart | I |
| - | |
| - | |
| Coffee | X |
| - | |
| They sat in a circle with their coffee cups | Y |
| One dropped in a lump of sugar | Z |
| One stirred with a spoon | A2 |
| I saw them as a circle of ghosts | B2 |
| Sipping blackness out of beautiful china | C2 |
| And mildly protesting against my coarseness | B2 |
| In being alive | D2 |
| - | |
| - | |
| Talk | E2 |
| - | |
| They took dead men's souls | B2 |
| And pinned them on their breasts for ornament | I |
| Their cuff links and tiaras | B2 |
| Were gems dug from a grave | F2 |
| They were ghouls battening on exhumed thoughts | B2 |
| And I took a green liqueur from a servant | I |
| So that he might come near me | X |
| And give me the comfort of a living thing | N |
| - | |
| - | |
| Eleven O'Clock | G2 |
| - | |
| The front door was hard and heavy | X |
| It shut behind me on the house of ghosts | B2 |
| I flattened my feet on the pavement | I |
| To feel it solid under me | X |
| I ran my hand along the railings | B2 |
| And shook them | H2 |
| And pressed their pointed bars | B2 |
| Into my palms | B2 |
| The hurt of it reassured me | X |
| And I did it again and again | E |
| Until they were bruised | I |
| When I woke in the night | I |
| I laughed to find them aching | N |
| For only living flesh can suffer | Z |
Amy Lowell
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
Write your comment about The Dinner-party poem by Amy Lowell
Best Poems of Amy Lowell