Moeurs Contemporaines Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BBCDEBFFBBEBB BBBGGE AH GBEEFEIJJEE AG BBBGKE IG IEAFFJE G IILBM GNO EBEOJN ENGGBENJOB PG AG BJGE G AP GB QBE EOJG E GGB GGR GGR BOE AE EG ESOSAA E ET

IA
-
Mr StyraxB
Mr Hecatomb Styrax the owner of a large estate and of large musclesB
A 'blue' and a climber of mountains has married at the age ofC
He being at that age a virginD
The term Virgo' being made male in mediaeval latinityE
His ineptitudesB
Have driven his wife from one religious excess to anotherF
She has abandoned the vicarF
For he was lacking in vehemenceB
She is now the high priestessB
Of a modern and ethical cultE
And even now Mr StyraxB
Does not believe in astheticsB
-
-
His brother has taken to gipsiesB
But the son in law of Mr H StyraxB
Objects to perfumed cigarettesB
In the parlance of Niccolo MachiavelliG
Thus things proceed in their circle'G
And thus the empire is maintainedE
-
IIA
ClaraH
-
At sixteen she was a potential celebrityG
With a distaste for caressesB
She now writes to me from a conventE
Her life is obscure and troubledE
Her second husband will not divorce herF
Her mind is as ever uncultivatedE
And no issue presents itselfI
She does not desire her childrenJ
Or any more childrenJ
Her ambition is vague and indefiniteE
She will neither stay in nor come outE
-
IIIA
Soir eG
-
Upon learning that the mother wrote versesB
And that the father wrote versesB
And that the youngest son was in a publisher's officeB
And that the friend of the second daughter was undergoing a novelG
The young American pilgrimK
ExclaimedE
'This is a darn'd clever bunch '-
-
IVI
Sketch bG
-
At the age ofI
Its home mail is still opened by its maternal parentE
And its office mail may be opened byA
its parent of the opposite genderF
It is an officerF
and a gentlemanJ
and an architectE
-
VG
'Nodier raconte '-
-
-
A t a friend of my wife's there is a photographI
A faded pale brownish photographI
Of the times when the sleeves were largeL
Silk stiff and large above the lacertusB
That is the upper armM
And d collet '-
It is a ladyG
She sits at a harpN
PlayingO
-
And by her left foot in a basketE
Is an infant aged about monthsB
The infant beams at the parentE
The parent re beams at its offspringO
The basket is lined with satinJ
There is a satin like bow on the harpN
-
-
And in the home of the novelistE
There is a satin like bow on an harpN
You enter and pass hall after hallG
Conservatory follows conservatoryG
Lilies lift their white symbolical cupsB
Whence their symbolical pollen has been excerptedE
Near them I noticed an harpN
And the blue satin ribbonJ
And the copy of Hatha Yoga'O
And the neat piles of unopened unopening booksB
-
And she spoke to me of the monarchP
And of the purity of her soulG
-
VIA
SteleG
-
After years of continenceB
he hurled himself into a sea of six womenJ
Now quenched as the brand of MeleagarG
he lies by the poluphloisboious sea coastE
-
SISTE VIATORG
-
VIIA
I VecchiiP
-
They will come no moreG
The old men with beautiful mannersB
-
II tait comme un tout petit gar onQ
With his blouse full of applesB
And sticking out all the way roundE
Blagueur 'Con gli occhi onesti e tardi '-
-
And he saidE
h Abelard ' as if the topicO
Were much too abstruse for his comprehensionJ
And he talked about 'the Great Mary'G
And said Mr Pound is shocked at my levity '-
When it turned out he meant Mrs WardE
-
And the other was rather like my bust by GaudierG
Or like a real Texas colonelG
He said 'Why flay dead horsesB
'There was once a man called Voltaire '-
-
And he said they used to cheer VerdiG
In Rome after the operaG
And the guards couldn't stop themR
-
And that was an anagram for VittorioG
Emanuele Re D' ItaliaG
And the guards couldn't stop themR
-
Old men with beautiful mannersB
Sitting in the Row of a morningO
Walking on the Chelsea EmbankmentE
-
VIIIA
RitrattoE
-
And she saidE
' You remember Mr LowellG
'He was your ambassador here '-
And I said 'That was before I arrived '-
And she saidE
'He stomped into my bedroomS
By that time she had got on to BrowningO
' stomped into my bedroomS
'And said 'Do IA
' 'I ask you Do IA
' 'Care too much for society dinners '-
'And I wouldn't say that he didn'tE
'Shelley used to live in this house '-
-
She was a very old ladyE
I never saw her againT

Ezra Pound



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