Disillusionment of Ten O’clock
By Wallace Stevens
The houses are haunted
By white night-gowns.
None are green,
Or purple with green rings,
Or green with yellow rings,
Or yellow with blue rings.
None of them are strange,
With socks of lace
And beaded ceintures.
People are not going
To dream of baboons and periwinkles.
Only, here and there, an old sailor,
Drunk and asleep in his boots,
Catches tigers
In red weather.
Summary of Disillusionment of Ten O’clock
- Popularity of “Disillusionment of Ten O’clock”: Written by the great American poet, Stevens Wallace, this beautiful poem first appeared in 1915. Harmonium was perhaps the first collection of his poems published that year. Leaving aside the first attempts, the poet has done well in this poem by presenting human beings as ghosts passing routinized lives without having untraditional dreams. The beauty and popularity of the poem lie in this presentation of the public lives at some odd hour of the night.
- “Disillusionment of Ten O’clock” As a Representative of Urban Lifestyle: The poet presents a speaker who sees everything lying in the house or out of the house. This is clear when he says that the houses are haunted by the nightgowns by which he means that the people are going to sleep now and they have worn nightgowns. However, their colors are white. He also shows what are other colors, such as purple, green and yellow to state that they are the same as the people have been using for centuries. These gowns are laced up with girdles. That is why such a routine does not give birth to different dreams. Rather, their dreams are the same old dreams of exotic creatures. However, there is some sailor who is sleeping, wearing his dress, and dreaming of doing exploits in some bad weather.
- Major Themes in “Disillusionment of Ten O’clock”: Routinized life, the barrenness of the urban lifestyle, and dreams of poverty are major thematic strands. It is very much clear that the houses showing people wearing routine dresses means satisfied people. Such a routine would never give birth to unrest, discomfort, or desire among the people to do something unusual. Therefore, their dreams are always the same dreams about exotic animals. It shows that this is the barrenness of the urban lifestyle as well as the people and good dreams come only from the people facing discomfort in their lives, such as the sailor who knows that he has done something for tomorrow and dreams differently despite his drunken state. This shows that poverty always brings something different, while conventionality leads to barrenness.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in Disillusionment of Ten O’clock
Wallace Stevens used various literary devices to beautify his poem. Some of the major literary devices in this poem are as follows.
- Anaphora: It means the repetition of words or phrases in successive verses. The poem shows the use of anaphora, such as “or.”
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /e / in “To dream of baboons and periwinkles” and the sound of /o/ in “People are not going.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /w/ in “By white night-gowns” and the sound of /s/ in “Drunk and asleep in his boots.”
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Wallace Stevens used imagery in this poem, such as “Or purple with green rings”, “None of them are strange” and “And beaded ceintures.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects different in nature. The poet used the metaphor of ghosts for the people sleeping in their houses.
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols, such as colors, houses, haunted, and baboons to show the disillusionment of the night.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Disillusionment of Ten O’Clock
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction: It means the type of language. The poem shows good use of formal and poetic diction.
- Free Verse: It means to write verses without any rhyme scheme or metrical pattern. Therefore, this is a free verse poem.
- Repetition: It means to use words or phrases repeatedly to stress upon some theme or idea such as “rings.”
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. This is a single stanza having fifteen verses.
- Tone: It means the voice of the text. The poem shows an inscrutable, bland, and even mysterious tone.
Quotes to be Used
The following lines are useful to quote when talking about people having aspirations.
People are not going
To dream of baboons and periwinkles.
Only, here and there, an old sailor,
Drunk and asleep in his boots,
Catches tigers
In red weather.
