Danse Russe
If I when my wife is sleeping and the baby and Kathleen are sleeping and the sun is a flame-white disc in silken mists above shining trees,— if I in my north room dance naked, grotesquely before my mirror waving my shirt round my head and singing softly to myself: "I am lonely, lonely. I was born to be lonely, I am best so!" If I admire my arms, my face, my shoulders, flanks, buttocks against the yellow drawn shades,— Who shall say I am not the happy genius of my household?
Danse Russe - fact Summary
First Printed in Sour Grapes
Published in 1921 in the collection Sour Grapes, the poem stages a private domestic moment: with wife and children sleeping, the speaker dances naked before a mirror and sings of being born to be lonely. The speaker frames this odd, comic self-display as both confession and claim to authority, naming himself the household’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’ the "happy genius" of his home, emphasizing ordinary intimacy and personal freedom.
Read Complete Analyses
Feel free to be first to leave comment.