Arts & Sciences

The Plot against the Giant

by Wallace Stevens 1879–1955

From Harmonium (1923)

Arts & Sciences

First Girl

When this yokel comes maundering,
Whetting his hacker,
I shall run before him,
Diffusing the civilest odors
Out of geraniums and unsmelled flowers.
It will check him.

Second Girl

I shall run before him,
Arching cloths besprinkled with colors
As small as fish-eggs.
The threads
Will abash him.

Third Girl

Oh, la ... le pauvre!
I shall run before him,
With a curious puffing.
He will bend his ear then.
I shall whisper
Heavenly labials in a world of gutturals.
It will undo him.

MLA

Stevens, Wallace. “The Plot against the Giant.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/stevens/5/.

Chicago

Stevens, Wallace. “The Plot against the Giant.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/stevens/5/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

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