Author: Madison Julius Cawein

---

    Red-Faced as old carousal, and with eyes
    A hard, hot blue; her hair a frowsy flame,
    Bold, dowdy-bosomed, from her widow-frame
    She leans, her mouth all insult and all lies.
    Or slattern-slippered and in sluttish gown,
    With ribald mirth and words too vile to name,
    A new Doll Tearsheet, glorying in her shame,
    Armed with her Falstaff now she takes the town.
    The flaring lights of alley-way saloons,
    The reek of hideous gutters and black oaths
    Of drunkenness from vice-infested dens,
    Are to her senses what the silvery moon's
    Chaste splendor is, and what the blossoming growths
    Of earth and bird-song are to innocence.

---

Type of Poem: Sonnet

Date Written:

Date Published:

Language: English

Keywords: Public Domain

Source: Public Domain Collection

Publisher:

Rights/Permissions: Public Domain

Comments/Notes: This poem presents a vivid portrait of a fallen woman, blending gritty realism with a touch of the Shakespearean. The use of rich, vivid imagery and harsh descriptors such as "red-faced," "frowsy flame," and "sluttish gown" underscores the character's moral degradation. She is compared to the Doll Tearsheet, a bawdy woman from Shakespeare's "Henry IV," suggesting that her behavior is not just distasteful, but theatrically so, contributing to the poem's overall tone of tragicomic disdain.

The structure of the poem, a single, substantial block of text, helps to create an overwhelming sense of the character's presence and the pervasive nature of her vice. The themes of debauchery and moral decay are effectively contrasted with the more traditional, romantic imagery of the "silvery moon's chaste splendor" and "blossoming growths of earth," serving to highlight the moral chasm between innocence and the character's sullied existence. Furthermore, the poem's diction and tone suggest a judgement not just of the character, but also of the societal conditions and environments that nurture such behavior. This combination of vivid character portrayal and social commentary makes the poem a compelling exploration of vice and virtue.