Chords
Chords - meaning Summary
Music and Seaside Images
The poem sketches a single woman's shifting presence through contrasting morning and evening scenes. Morning imagery—horseback, leather, sea—suggests motion and rawness; evening imagery—pearls, black velvet, piano—suggests refinement and introspection. Musical and weather metaphors link public force and private mood, while the repeated closing line reunites both sides into a complex, ambiguous portrait. The tone is observational, assembling sensory fragments rather than telling a clear narrative.
Read Complete AnalysesIN the morning, a Sunday morning, shadows of sea and adumbrants of rock in her eyes ... horseback in leather boots and leather gauntlets by the sea. In the evening, a Sunday evening, a rope of pearls on her white shoulders ... and a speaking, brooding black velvet, relapsing to the voiceless ... battering Russian marches on a piano ... drive of blizzards across Nebraska. Yes, riding horseback on hills by the sea ... sitting at the ivory keys in black velvet, a rope of pearls on white shoulders.
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