Analysis of He Asked about the Quality
Constantine P. Cavafy 1863 (Alexandria) – 1933 (Alexandria)
He left the office where he'd been given
a trivial, poorly paid job
(something like eight pounds a month, including bonuses)
left at the end of the dreary work
that kept him bent all afternoon,
came out at seven and walked off slowly,
idling his way down the street. Good-looking,
and interesting: showing as he did that he'd reached
his full sensual capacity.
He'd turned twenty-nine the month before.
He idled his way down the main street
and the poor side-streets that led to his home.
Passing in front of a small shop that sold
cheap and flimsy merchandise for workers,
he saw a face inside, a figure
that compelled him to go in, and he pretended
he wanted to look at some coloured handkerchiefs.
He asked about the quality of the handkerchiefs
and how much they cost, his voice choking,
almost silenced by desire.
And the answers came back in the same mood,
distracted, the voice hushed,
offering hidden consent.
They kept on talking about the merchandise
but the only purpose: that their hands might touch
over the handkerchiefs, that their faces, their lips,
might move close together as though by chance
a moment's meeting of limb against limb.
Quickly, secretly, so the shop owner sitting at the back
wouldn't realize what was going on.
Scheme | ABCDEFGHFIJKLMNOPPGNQRSTUVWXYZ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1101011110 01001011 1011101010100 110110101 1111101 1111001110 10011101110 010010111111 111000100 111010101 110111011 0011111111 1001101111 101010110 110101010 101111001010 110111110100 1101010010100 011111110 1101010 0010110011 010011 1001001 1111001010 10101011111 100100111011 1110101111 0101011011 101001011010101 101011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,224 |
Words | 218 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 30 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 991 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 216 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 30, 2023
- 1:06 min read
- 151 Views
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