Kaleidoscope (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Paul Verlaine
- First Published: 1883
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: France or French people, Love or romance, Nineteenth century, Music or musicians, Dreams, City life, London, Cities or towns, Fog
The Poem
The twenty-eight lines of “Kaleidoscope” are divided into seven four-line stanzas of Alexandrine verse (twelve-syllable lines). The rhyme scheme (abba, cddc, and so on), with alternating masculine and feminine end rhymes, is traditional in French poetry. In these seven quatrains, fragments of diverse sensory impressions of the past are presented to the reader in juxtaposed images that change like bits of colored glass in a kaleidoscope.
Paul Verlaine composed the poem during his incarceration in Brussels, after being arrested for firing at and...
[The entire page is 1530 words long]
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