The Equilibrists (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Crowe Ransom
- First Published: 1925
- Type of Work: Meditation
- Genres: Poetry, Meditation
- Subjects: Love or romance, Sex or sexuality, Women, Legends, Hell, Life and death, Honor, Heaven
The Poem
“The Equilibrists” consists of fourteen quatrains of end-rhymed couplets, with four of the couplets exhibiting slant rhyme. The title states the condition of the man and woman in the poem. Emotional and philosophical acrobats, they balance opposites: passion and intellect, carnal lust and spiritual purity, heaven and hell, life and death.
The first stanza begins in the third person as the man recalls the physical attractions of the woman. He imagines her “long, white arms,” and “milky skin,” conjuring up an image that blocks his external perceptions;...
[The entire page is 1661 words long]
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