Monosyllabic
Monosyllabic - meaning Summary
Silence After Verbose Anger
The speaker asks to be "monosyllabic" for a day, seeking plainness and restraint after previously unleashing a torrent of words at a fool and a child. The plea is for simpler speech and mood: to join elderly companions who savor sunlight and slow pacing, valuing quiet, measured time over rhetorical excess. The poem contrasts impulsive verbal force with deliberate, gentle presence.
Read Complete AnalysesLet me be monosyllabic to-day, O Lord. Yesterday I loosed a snarl of words on a fool, on a child. To-day, let me be monosyllabic . . . a crony of old men who wash sunlight in their fingers and enjoy slow-pacing clocks.
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