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Excerpt ​

Excerpt from Men, Women and Ghosts, by Amy Lowell

"O All ye Works of the Lord, Bless ye the Lord; Praise Him, and Magnify Him<br />
  for ever.<br />
O let the Earth Bless the Lord; Yea, let it Praise Him, and Magnify Him<br />
  for ever.<br />
O ye Mountains and Hills, Bless ye the Lord; Praise Him, and Magnify Him<br />
  for ever.<br />
O All ye Green Things upon the Earth, Bless ye the Lord; Praise Him,<br />
  and Magnify Him for ever."

The Boy will praise his God on an altar builded fair,
Will heap it with the Works of the Lord. In the morning air,
Spices shall burn on it, and by their pale smoke curled,
Like shoots of all the Green Things, the God of this bright World
Shall see the Boy's desire to pay his debt of praise.
The Boy turns round about, seeking with careful gaze
An altar meet and worthy, but each table and chair
Has some defect, each piece is needing some repair
To perfect it; the chairs have broken legs and backs,
The tables are uneven, and every highboy lacks
A handle or a drawer, the desks are bruised and worn,
And even a wide sofa has its cane seat torn.
Only in the gloom far in the corner there
The lacquer music-stand is elegant and rare,
Clear and slim of line, with its four wings outspread,
The sound of old quartets, a tenuous, faint thread,
Hanging and floating over it, it stands supreme--
Black, and gold, and crimson, in one twisted scheme!

A candle on the bookcase feels a draught and wavers,
Stippling the white-washed walls with dancing shades and quavers.
A bed-post, grown colossal, jigs about the ceiling,
And shadows, strangely altered, stain the walls, revealing
Eagles, and rabbits, and weird faces pulled awry,
And hands which fetch and carry things incessantly.
Under the Eastern window, where the morning sun
Must touch it, stands the music-stand, and on each one
Of its broad platforms is a pyramid of stones,
And metals, and dried flowers, and pine and hemlock cones,
An oriole's nest with the four eggs neatly blown,
The rattle of a rattlesnake, and three large brown
Butternuts uncracked, six butterflies impaled
With a green luna moth, a snake-skin freshly scaled,
Some sunflower seeds, wampum, and a bloody-tooth shell,
A blue jay feather, all together piled pell-mell
The stand will hold no more. The Boy with humming head
Looks once again, blows out the light, and creeps to bed.

Explanation ​

Detailed Explanation of Amy Lowell’s Excerpt from Men, Women and Ghosts ​

Context & Background ​

Amy Lowell (1874–1925) was a prominent American Imagist poet, known for her vivid, sensory-rich verse that often blended modernist techniques with traditional forms. Men, Women and Ghosts (1916) is one of her early collections, exploring themes of nature, spirituality, human longing, and the tension between the ideal and the flawed. This excerpt—likely from the poem "The Altar"—depicts a boy’s attempt to construct a sacred space to worship God, only to confront the imperfections of the material world. The poem reflects Lowell’s fascination with ritual, reverence for nature, and the struggle to reconcile divine perfection with human limitation.

Themes in the Excerpt ​

  1. The Search for Perfection in an Imperfect World

    • The boy seeks an "altar meet and worthy" to honor God, but every object he considers is broken, worn, or deficient (chairs with broken legs, torn sofas, uneven tables).
    • The lacquer music-stand—elegant, rare, and untouched—becomes his chosen altar, symbolizing art as a bridge between the divine and the earthly. Its "black, and gold, and crimson" colors evoke both mysticism and craftsmanship, suggesting that beauty can elevate the mundane.
    • Yet even this "perfect" object is burdened with a chaotic pile of natural artifacts, reinforcing the tension between order and disorder, sacred and profane.

  2. Nature as Divine Manifestation

    • The opening lines are a paraphrase of the Benedicite (Song of the Three Holy Children), a biblical hymn in which all creation praises God. Lowell’s adaptation emphasizes panentheism—the idea that the divine is present in all things, especially nature.
    • The boy’s altar is not a traditional religious shrine but a collection of natural objects (stones, feathers, snake skins, eggshells), suggesting that worship is found in the tangible world, not just in abstract faith.
    • The "Green Things" and "Works of the Lord" (spices, flowers, animal remnants) become sacred offerings, blurring the line between religion and nature worship.

  3. The Ephemeral and the Eternal

    • The candle’s flickering light casts distorted shadows—eagles, rabbits, "weird faces pulled awry"—hinting at the illusion of permanence. The boy’s ritual is fleeting; by morning, the altar may be forgotten.
    • The "tenuous, faint thread" of old quartets hanging over the music-stand suggests music as a transient yet divine art, connecting the boy’s act to creative reverence.
    • The final image—the boy blowing out the light and creeping to bed—implies that human devotion is temporary, yet the desire for meaning persists.

  4. Childhood Spirituality vs. Adult Disillusionment

    • The boy’s earnestness ("the Boy's desire to pay his debt of praise") contrasts with the decay of the household objects, symbolizing innocence confronting imperfection.
    • His humming head suggests both excitement and overwhelm, a child’s mind grappling with big questions. The poem may critique organized religion’s rigidity while celebrating personal, intuitive faith.

Literary Devices & Stylistic Analysis ​

  1. Imagery & Sensory Detail

    • Visual: The "pale smoke curled" like "shoots of all the Green Things," the "black, and gold, and crimson" music-stand, the "dancing shades and quavers" on the walls.
    • Tactile: "Bruised and worn" desks, "cane seat torn," "dried flowers," "snake-skin freshly scaled."
    • Auditory: The "humming head," the "faint thread" of quartets, the silence as the boy blows out the light.
    • Olfactory: "Spices shall burn" evokes incense and ritual.
    • Lowell’s Imagist precision makes the scene vivid and immersive, grounding spiritual themes in concrete reality.

  2. Symbolism

    • The Music-Stand: Represents art, beauty, and the sacred—a man-made object that, unlike the broken furniture, is whole and elegant. Its "four wings outspread" may symbolize ascension or angelic presence.
    • The Pile of Objects: A microcosm of the natural world, both beautiful and grotesque (butterflies impaled, a bloody-tooth shell, a rattlesnake’s rattle). This juxtaposition of life and death reflects the cyclical nature of existence.
    • The Candle & Shadows: Symbolize fleeting faith and the distortions of perception. The "colossal" bed-post and "weird faces" suggest that reality is subjective, especially in the dim light of childhood understanding.

  3. Repetition & Ritualistic Language

    • The opening anaphora ("O All ye..., O let the..., O ye...") mimics liturgical chant, reinforcing the sacred tone.
    • The phrase "Praise Him, and Magnify Him for ever" is repeated like a mantra, blending religious devotion with natural reverence.
    • The cataloging of objects (stones, metals, feathers, eggs) creates a rhythm of accumulation, mirroring the boy’s obsessive gathering.

  4. Juxtaposition & Irony

    • The idealized vision of praise ("altar builded fair") vs. the reality of broken furniture.
    • The elegance of the music-stand vs. the chaotic pile it supports.
    • The divine ("God of this bright World") vs. the mundane (a boy’s bedroom at night).

  5. Enjambment & Pacing

    • Lowell uses enjambment (lines flowing without punctuation) to create a sense of urgency in the boy’s search, then slows down as he arranges the altar.
    • The final lines ("The stand will hold no more. / The Boy with humming head / Looks once again, blows out the light, and creeps to bed.") are deliberately paced, marking the end of the ritual and the return to ordinary life.

Significance & Interpretation ​

  • A Modernist Take on Faith: Unlike traditional religious poetry, Lowell’s work does not promise transcendence. The boy’s altar is imperfect, temporary, and personal—a reflection of modern spirituality, where meaning is constructed rather than given.
  • The Artist as Priest: The music-stand, associated with music and art, suggests that creativity is a form of worship. Lowell, herself a poet, may be commenting on art as a sacred act.
  • The Limits of Human Devotion: The boy’s ritual is intense but brief, ending with him creeping to bed. This could symbolize how human attempts to reach the divine are fleeting, yet the impulse remains.
  • Nature as the True Altar: The poem elevates the natural world over man-made objects. The boy’s offerings—feathers, stones, eggs—are more "perfect" than the broken furniture, suggesting that divinity is found in nature, not in human constructions.

Conclusion: The Altar as a Metaphor for Human Longing ​

Lowell’s excerpt captures a moment of childlike reverence in a world of imperfection. The boy’s altar—part sacred, part chaotic, part artistic—mirrors the human struggle to find meaning. The poem does not resolve whether his worship is "enough," but it celebrates the act itself, the desire to praise, even in a flawed world.

In a broader sense, the poem reflects Lowell’s Imagist philosophy: spirituality is not abstract but rooted in the sensory, the tangible, the imperfect. The music-stand, the shadows, the pile of natural objects—all become sacred not because they are perfect, but because they are imbued with intention.

Ultimately, the excerpt is a meditation on how we make meaning—through ritual, art, and attention to the world around us, even when that world is broken, fleeting, and mysterious.