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The Weather-Cock Points South by Amy Lowell

Analysis

This poem, along with "A Decade" are seen as celebrations of lesbian devotion. The poem describes the intimacy of her and her lover through body and spirit. During the time of writing, lesbianism wasn't as accepted as it is today. It was, frankly, deeply frowned upon. However, that didn't stop Lowell from writing "The Weather-Cock Points South" to stun communities around the world. Luckily, writers are known to be more liberal when it comes to social aspects of ones self.

Even though this poem does not rhyme, it uses the same words to end specific lines in order to draw attention to it. For example, the first stanza uses "One by one" twice and ends three lines with "leaves". To me, this is quite significant in understanding the true nature of the poem. "Leaves" can be seen as different parts of the woman's body, but it can also be viewed as emotions such as stubbornness to give in to fantasies.

Poem

The Weather-Cock Points South
By 

I put your leaves aside,
One by one:
The stiff, broad outer leaves;
The smaller ones,
Pleasant to touch, veined with purple;
The glazed inner leaves.
One by one
I parted you from your leaves,
Until you stood up like a white flower
Swaying slightly in the evening wind.

White flower,
Flower of wax, of jade, of unstreaked agate;
Flower with surfaces of ice,
With shadows faintly crimson.
Where in all the garden is there such a flower?
The stars crowd through the lilac leaves
To look at you.
The low moon brightens you with silver.

The bud is more than the calyx.
There is nothing to equal a white bud,
Of no colour, and of all,
Burnished by moonlight,
Thrust upon by a softly-swinging wind.

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