A Wicker Basket

“A Wicker Basket” is composed of 28 lines organized into seven quatrains, with the final stanza including a break between its third and final line. Despite the first couplet showcasing nearly regular anapestic meter (two unaccented syllables followed by an accented one), the body of the poem departs from regular metrical patterns in favor of unstructured, conversational rhythms. With a few variations, the stanzas of the poem follow an AABB pattern of end rhymes.

The rhyme structure of the poem stands out loudly from both the free verse practices it employs in other areas of the text and the poetic standards of the time. Hard end rhymes, while not unheard of, were not the standard for mid-century American poetry. Rhyming couplets especially stand out with their singsong, nursery-rhyme-evocative bounciness. The overt rhymes lend the poem an air of comical self-awareness, communicating a tone of carefree enjoyment and individuality. It is not hard to understand that “certainly / [people around the speaker] are laughing at [him]” (Lines 25-26) as he communicates his antics with such overt and childlike rhymes.

Even the introductory anapests of the first stanza seem poised to become a limerick: “comes the TIME when it’s LATer / and ONto your TABle” [emphasis added] (Lines 1-2).