Analysis of The Woman Whose Skin Washed Yellow
It was jaundice that killed her, said father,
from drinking contaminated water in July,
when the heat was worst.
Now she lay cold on a block on ice
waiting to be bathed, then buried.
The power grid failed again this year
in Northern India, leaving our parents
fanning sweat with jute fans and women
sitting in noon heat taking turns
to bathe her, braiding dark hair into plaits
that shone in the sun and swatting flies off
weathered faces that waited for sunset.
The water ran yellow as cold rivulets flowing
downslope where we drew sunflowers in it
with twigs, leaving dust rimmed skeletons.
We whispered rumors heard of the waterman
at the corner, who sold ice-water, hosing
and chipping monoliths that the bodies lay on
for ice and we stared with parched mouths
at irregular cubes floating in the water.
Scheme | AXXXX XXBXXXX CXXBCXXA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110110110 11001001001 10111 111110111 10111110 010110111 010100101010 101111010 10011101 1101011011 110010111 101011011 01011011110 11111001 111011100 11010110100 10101111010 01010101011 11011111 101001100010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 787 |
Words | 141 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 7, 8 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 217 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 47 |
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Submitted on May 01, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 1 View
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"The Woman Whose Skin Washed Yellow" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 Sep. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/88320/the-woman-whose-skin-washed-yellow>.
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