In The Cage Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDDC EFFEGHIGHJKKLM INNOPOPQQQR RSSRTTUUVUVWWXYYX ZWWZA2A2B2C2B2RRD2QQ D2C2ZZC2E2C2F2 KKE2G2H2I2G2I2J2J2QC 2QK2L2L2H2E2GGQE2QQQ M2M2N2N2

The sounds of mid night trickle into the roarA
Of morning over the water growing blueB
At ten o'clock the August sunbeams pourA
A blinding flood on Michigan AvenueB
-
But yet the half drawn shades of bottle greenC
Leave the recesses of the roomD
With misty auras drawn around their gloomD
Where things lie undistinguished scarcely seenC
-
You standing between the window and the bedE
Are edged with rainbow colors And I lieF
Drowsy with quizzical half open eyeF
Musing upon the contour of your headE
Watching you comb your hairG
Clothed in a corset waist and skirt of silkH
Tied with white braid above your slender hipsI
Which reaches to your knees and makes your bareG
And delicate legs by contrast white as milkH
And as you toss your head to comb its tressesJ
They flash upon me like long strips of sandK
Between a moonlit sea pale as your handK
And a red sun that on a high dune stressesL
Its sanguine heatM
-
And then at times your lipsI
Protruding half unconscious half in scornN
Engage my eyes while looking through the mornN
At the clear oval of your brow brought fullO
Over the sovereign largeness of your eyesP
Or at your breasts that shake not as you pullO
The comb through stubborn tangles only riseP
Scarcely perceptible with breath or signsQ
Firm unmaternal like a young Bacchante'sQ
Or at your nose profoundly dipped like Dante'sQ
Over your chin that softly melts awayR
-
Now you seem fully under my heart's swayR
I have slipped through the magic of your meshS
Freed once again and strengthened by your fleshS
You seem a weak thing for a strong man's playR
Yet I know now that we shall scarce have partedT
When I shall think of you half heavy heartedT
I know our partings You will faintly smileU
And look at me with eyes that have no guileU
Or have too much and pass into the sphereV
Where you keep independent life meanwhileU
How do you live without me is the fearV
You do not lean upon me ask my love or wonderW
Of other loves I may have hidden underW
These casual renewals of our loveX
And if I loved you I should lie in flameY
Ari go about re murmuring your nameY
And these are things a man should be aboveX
-
And as I lie here on the imminent brinkZ
Of soul's surrender into your soul's powerW
And in the white light of the morning hourW
I see what life would be if we should linkZ
Our lives together in a marriage pactA2
For we would walk along a boundless tractA2
Of perfect hell but your disloyaltyB2
Would be of spirit for I have not wonC2
Mastered and bound your spirit unto meB2
And if you had a lover in the wayR
I have you it would not by half betrayR
My love as does your vague and chainless thoughtD2
Which wanders soars or vanishes returnsQ
Changes astonishes or chills or burnsQ
Is unresisting plastic freely wroughtD2
Under my hands yet to no unisonC2
Of my life and of yours Upon this brinkZ
I watch you now and thinkZ
Of all that has been preached or sung or spokenC2
Of woman's tragedy in woman's fallE2
And all the pictures of a woman brokenC2
By man's superior strengthF2
-
And there you standK
Your heart and life as firmly in commandK
Of your resolve as mine is knowing allE2
Of man the master and his power to harmG2
His rulership of spheres materialH2
Bread customs rules of fair reputeI2
What are they all against your slender armG2
Which long since plucked the fruitI2
Of good and evil and of life at lastJ2
And now of Life For dancing you have castJ2
Veil after veil of ideals or pretenseQ
With which men clothe the being feminineC2
To satisfy their lordship or their senseQ
Of ownership and hide the things of sinK2
You have thrown them aside veil after veilL2
And there you stand unarmored weirdly frailL2
Yet strong as nature making comicalH2
The poems and the tales of woman's fallE2
You nod your head you smile I feel the airG
Made by the closing door I lie and stareG
At the closed door One two your tuft d stepsQ
Die on the velvet of the outer hallE2
You have escaped And I would not pursueQ
Though we are but caged creatures I and youQ
A male and female tiger in a zooQ
For I shall wait you Life himself will trackM2
Your wanderings and bring you backM2
And shut you up again with me and cageN2
Our love and hatred and our silent rageN2

Edgar Lee Masters



Rate:
(2)



Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme

Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation


Write your comment about In The Cage poem by Edgar Lee Masters


 

Recent Interactions*

This poem was read 3 times,

This poem was added to the favorite list by 0 members,

This poem was voted by 1 members.

(* Interactions only in the last 7 days)

New Poems

Popular Poets