The Taxi Flashcards
by Amy Lowell — tap or click to flip
Flashcard Review
Flashcards: The Taxi
Who wrote "The Taxi"?
Amy Lowell, published in Sword Blades and Poppy Seed (1914).
How many lines is "The Taxi"?
Twelve lines.
Who is "The Taxi" believed to be addressed to?
Ada Dwyer Russell, Amy Lowell's companion and partner.
What is the situation in the poem?
The speaker is riding in a taxi through city streets, moving away from the person she loves.
What simile describes the world without the beloved?
"The world beats dead / Like a slackened drum."
What do the streets do to the lovers?
They "wedge" the speaker away from the beloved, physically forcing them apart.
What do the city lamps do to the speaker?
They "prick" her eyes so she can no longer see her beloved's face.
What is the final question of the poem?
"Why should I leave you, / To wound myself upon the sharp edges of the night?"
What does "the sharp edges of the night" suggest?
That darkness and separation are physically dangerous and painful, not merely sad.
What literary movement does "The Taxi" represent?
Imagism, using precise sensory images to convey emotion without abstract statement.
What poetic form does "The Taxi" use?
Free verse with no fixed meter or rhyme scheme.
What is the dominant type of imagery in "The Taxi"?
Physical and tactile imagery — pricking, wounding, sharp edges, wedging.
What does the speaker do against the "jutted stars"?
She calls out for her beloved against them, shouting into the ridges of the wind.
How does the city function in the poem?
As a hostile force that actively separates the lovers — streets wedge, lamps blind, night wounds.
What is the tone of "The Taxi"?
Urgent, anguished, and almost violent — the speaker experiences separation as physical pain.
What does "slackened drum" mean?
A drum gone loose and lifeless — the world without the beloved loses its vitality and resonance.
What does "jutted" mean?
Projecting outward sharply — the stars are described as protruding and angular, part of the poem's aggressive imagery.
In what collection was "The Taxi" published?
Sword Blades and Poppy Seed (1914), Lowell's second poetry collection.
What makes "The Taxi" a good example of Imagist technique?
It conveys intense emotion entirely through precise physical images rather than abstract statements about love or grief.
What is the rhetorical effect of ending with a question?
It leaves the poem unresolved, emphasizing the helplessness and irrationality of the forced separation.