The Mutes Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABC DE FGG H IJK L MNO PQR ST UVW NXY ZA2B2 EC2D D2E2I IF2 G2B2| Those groans men use | A |
| passing a woman on the street | B |
| or on the steps of the subway | C |
| - | |
| to tell her she is a female | D |
| and their flesh knows it | E |
| - | |
| are they a sort of tune | F |
| an ugly enough song sung | G |
| by a bird with a slit tongue | G |
| - | |
| but meant for music | H |
| - | |
| Or are they the muffled roaring | I |
| of deafmutes trapped in a building that is | J |
| slowly filling with smoke | K |
| - | |
| Perhaps both | L |
| - | |
| Such men most often | M |
| look as if groan were all they could do | N |
| yet a woman in spite of herself | O |
| - | |
| knows it's a tribute | P |
| if she were lacking all grace | Q |
| they'd pass her in silence | R |
| - | |
| so it's not only to say she's | S |
| a warm hole It's a word | T |
| - | |
| in grief language nothing to do with | U |
| primitive not an ur language | V |
| language stricken sickened cast down | W |
| - | |
| in decrepitude She wants to | N |
| throw the tribute away dis | X |
| gusted and can't | Y |
| - | |
| it goes on buzzing in her ear | Z |
| it changes the pace of her walk | A2 |
| the torn posters in echoing corridors | B2 |
| - | |
| spell it out it | E |
| quakes and gnashes as the train comes in | C2 |
| Her pulse sullenly | D |
| - | |
| had picked up speed | D2 |
| but the cars slow down and | E2 |
| jar to a stop while her understanding | I |
| - | |
| keeps on translating | I |
| 'Life after life after life goes by | F2 |
| - | |
| without poetry | G2 |
| without seemliness | B2 |
| without love ' | - |
Denise Levertov
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
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