Sea Surface Full Of Clouds Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCB DEE FGH IJK JEL MKL A BCB DEE FIE HNN HHO KKO A BCB DEE KKP QKP KBL RKL S BTB DEE UKE SVW XBM EKM S BSB DEE SYP ZSE A2B2L SLLI | A |
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In that November off Tehuantepec | B |
The slopping of the sea grew still one night | C |
And in the morning summer hued the deck | B |
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And made one think of rosy chocolate | D |
And gilt umbrellas Paradisal green | E |
Gave suavity to the perplexed machine | E |
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Of ocean which like limpid water lay | F |
Who then in that ambrosial latitude | G |
Out of the light evolved the morning blooms | H |
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Who then evolved the sea blooms from the clouds | I |
Diffusing balm in that Pacific calm | J |
C' eacute tait mon enfant mon bijou mon acirc me | K |
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The sea clouds whitened far below the calm | J |
And moved as blooms move in the swimming green | E |
And in its watery radiance while the hue | L |
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Of heaven in an antique reflection rolled | M |
Round those flotillas And sometimes the sea | K |
Poured brilliant iris on the glistening blue | L |
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II | A |
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In that November off Tehuantepec | B |
The slopping of the sea grew still one night | C |
At breakfast jelly yellow streaked the deck | B |
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And made one think of chop house chocolate | D |
And sham umbrellas And a sham like green | E |
Capped summer seeming on the tense machine | E |
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Of ocean which in sinister flatness lay | F |
Who then beheld the rising of the clouds | I |
That strode submerged in that malevolent sheen | E |
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Who saw the mortal massives of the blooms | H |
Of water moving on the water floor | N |
C' eacute tait mon fr egrave re du ciel ma vie mon or | N |
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The gongs rang loudly as the windy booms | H |
Hoo hooed it in the darkened ocean blooms | H |
The gongs grew still And then blue heaven spread | O |
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Its crystalline pendentives on the sea | K |
And the macabre of the water glooms | K |
In an enormous undulation fled | O |
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III | A |
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In that November off Tehuantepec | B |
The slopping of the sea grew still one night | C |
And a pale silver patterned on the deck | B |
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And made one think of porcelain chocolate | D |
And pied umbrellas An uncertain green | E |
Piano polished held the tranced machine | E |
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Of ocean as a prelude holds and holds | K |
Who seeing silver petals of white blooms | K |
Unfolding in the water feeling sure | P |
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Of the milk within the saltiest spurge heard then | Q |
The sea unfolding in the sunken clouds | K |
Oh C' eacute tait mon extase et mon amour | P |
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So deeply sunken were they that the shrouds | K |
The shrouding shadows made the petals black | B |
Until the rolling heaven made them blue | L |
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A blue beyond the rainy hyacinth | R |
And smiting the crevasses of the leaves | K |
Deluged the ocean with a sapphire blue | L |
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IV | S |
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In that November off Tehuantepec | B |
The night long slopping of the sea grew still | T |
A mallow morning dozed upon the deck | B |
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And made one think of musky chocolate | D |
And frail umbrellas A too fluent green | E |
Suggested malice in the dry machine | E |
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Of ocean pondering dank stratagem | U |
Who then beheld the figures of the clouds | K |
Like blooms secluded in the thick marine | E |
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Like blooms Like damasks that were shaken off | S |
From the loosed girdles in the spangling must | V |
C' eacute tait ma foi la nonchalance divine | W |
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The nakedness would rise and suddenly turn | X |
Salt masks of beard and mouths of bellowing | B |
Would But more suddenly the heaven rolled | M |
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Its bluest sea clouds in the thinking green | E |
And the nakedness became the broadest blooms | K |
Mile mallows that a mallow sun cajoled | M |
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V | S |
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In that November off Tehuantepec | B |
Night stilled the slopping of the sea | S |
The day came bowing and voluble upon the deck | B |
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Good clown One thought of Chinese chocolate | D |
And large umbrellas And a motley green | E |
Followed the drift of the obese machine | E |
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Of ocean perfected in indolence | S |
What pistache one ingenious and droll | Y |
Beheld the sovereign clouds as jugglery | P |
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And the sea as turquoise turbaned Sambo neat | Z |
At tossing saucers cloudy conjuring sea | S |
C' eacute tait mon esprit b acirc tard l'ignominie | E |
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The sovereign clouds came clustering The conch | A2 |
Of loyal conjuration trumped The wind | B2 |
Of green blooms turning crisped the motley hue | L |
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To clearing opalescence Then the sea | S |
And heaven rolled as one and from the two | L |
Came fresh transfigurings of freshest blue | L |
Wallace Stevens
(2)
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Mike B: If you’re wondering WTF he’s having a kensho experience and describing how it feels in all its dynamism and profundity that’s impossible to comprehend.
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