350 The Future Poetry
Hea_
dfro ̆mthe ̆|mo_
the ̆r’s|bo_
we ̆ls|dra_
wn,|Woo_
de ̆d|fle_
sh a ̆nd|me_
ta ̆lbo_
ne,|li_
mb|o_
nly ̆o_
ne|a ̆nd li_
p|o_
nly ̆o_
ne,|Gre_
y-blue_
|lea_
fby ̆|re_
d-hea_
t|gro_
wn,|he ̆lve pro ̆du_
ced|fro ̆ma ̆li_
ttle ̆|see_
dso_
wn,|Re_
sti ̆ng the ̆|gra_
ss a ̆mi_
d|a ̆nd u ̆po_
n,|To ̆be ̆lea_
ned|a ̆nd to ̆lea_
no_
n.|Even when he loosens into a laxity nearer to prose, the compact
quantitative movement, though much less high-strung, is still
there, —
I_
see_
|ma_
le a ̆nd|fe_
ma_
le|e_
ve ̆ry ̆whe_
re,|I_
see_
|the ̆se ̆re_
ne|bro_
the ̆rhoo ̆d|o ̆f phi_
lo ̆so_
phs,|I_
see_
the ̆|co ̆nstru_
cti ̆vene ̆ss|o ̆fmy ̆ra_
ce.|It is only when he lies back or lolls indolently content with
spreading himself out in a democratic averageness of rhythm
that the intensity of poetic movement fades out; but the free
quantitative movement is there even then, though near now to
the manner and quality of prose.
The later practicians of free verse have not often the height-
ened rhythmic movement of Whitman at his best, but still they
are striving towards the same kind of thing, and their work
apparently and deliberately amorphous receives something like
a shape, a balance, a reasoned meaning when scanned as quan-
titative free verse. We find this in passages ofThe Waste Land
andThe Hollow Men, e.g.,
We_
a_
re the ̆|ho_
llo ̆wme_
n|We_
a_
re the ̆|stu_
ffed me_
n|Lea_
ni ̆ng to ̆|ge_
the ̆r|Hea_
dpie_
ce|fi_
lled wi ̆th stra_
w.|A ̆la_
s!|