Study In Orange And White Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCCC CBDEFG BHIJKFC FCLCCC CMNFO CPQICR SFBTCULVA| I knew that James Whistler was part of the Paris scene | A |
| but I was still surprised when I found the painting | B |
| of his mother at the Mus eacute e d'Orsay | C |
| among all the colored dots and mobile brushstrokes | C |
| of the French Impressionists | C |
| - | |
| And I was surprised to notice | C |
| after a few minutes of benign staring | B |
| how that woman stark in profile | D |
| and fixed forever in her chair | E |
| began to resemble my own ancient mother | F |
| who was now fixed forever in the stars the air the earth | G |
| - | |
| You can understand why he titled the painting | B |
| Arrangement in Gray and Black | H |
| instead of what everyone naturally calls it | I |
| but afterward as I walked along the river bank | J |
| I imagined how it might have broken | K |
| the woman's heart to be demoted from mother | F |
| to a mere composition a study in colorlessness | C |
| - | |
| As the summer couples leaned into each other | F |
| along the quay and the wide low slung boats | C |
| full of spectators slid up and down the Seine | L |
| between the carved stone bridges | C |
| and their watery reflections | C |
| I thought how ridiculous how off base | C |
| - | |
| It would be like Botticelli calling The Birth of Venus | C |
| Composition in Blue Ochre Green and Pink | M |
| or the other way around | N |
| like Rothko titling one of his sandwiches of color | F |
| Fishing Boats Leaving Falmouth Harbor at Dawn | O |
| - | |
| Or as I scanned the menu at the cafe | C |
| where I now had come to rest | P |
| it would be like painting something laughable | Q |
| like a chef turning on a spit | I |
| over a blazing fire in front of an audience of ducks | C |
| and calling it Study in Orange and White | R |
| - | |
| But by that time a waiter had appeared | S |
| with my glass of Pernod and a clear pitcher of water | F |
| and I sat there thinking of nothing | B |
| but the women and men passing by | T |
| mothers and sons walking their small fragile dogs | C |
| and about myself | U |
| a kind of composition in blue and khaki | L |
| and now that I had poured | V |
| some water into the glass milky green | A |
Billy Collins
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