{"id":241,"date":"2025-09-22T18:32:54","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T18:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hartfordlit.org\/?p=241"},"modified":"2026-01-28T21:31:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T21:31:25","slug":"disillusionment-of-ten-oclock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hartfordlit.org\/?p=241","title":{"rendered":"Disillusionment of Ten O\u2019Clock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here the speaker is bored by all the monotonous \u201cwhite nightgowns\u201d in his neighborhood\u2014nightgowns presumably worn by his fellow Hartford businessmen who all dress alike, without imagination.\u00a0 He longs for something fresh and unusual, to add interest to this routine life.\u00a0 Why do you think he uses the French word, \u201cceinture\u201d?\u00a0 What is unusual about the combination of \u201cbaboons and periwinkles\u201d?\u00a0 (Think of the sounds of those words.)\u00a0 How do you feel about the old, drunk sailor?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Disillusionment of Ten O\u2019Clock<\/strong><\/h2>\n

by Wallace Stevens<\/strong><\/p>\n

The houses are haunted
\nBy white night-gowns.
\nNone are green,
\nOr purple with green rings,
\nOr green with yellow rings,
\nOr yellow with blue rings.
\nNone of them are strange,
\nWith socks of lace
\nAnd beaded ceintures.
\nPeople are not going
\nTo dream of baboons and periwinkles.
\nOnly, here and there, an old sailor,
\nDrunk and asleep in his boots,
\nCatches tigers
\nIn red weather.<\/p>\n

\n

Glossary<\/strong>
\nceinture<\/span><\/i>: French word for a belt<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
\nperiwinkles<\/span><\/i>: small blue flowers<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wallace Stevens, \"Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock\" from Harmonium<\/i>. (New York:\u00a0<\/strong>Alfred A. Knopf, 1923. Public domain.)<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here the speaker is bored by all the monotonous \u201cwhite nightgowns\u201d in his neighborhood\u2014nightgowns presumably worn by his fellow Hartford businessmen who all dress alike, without imagination.\u00a0 He longs for something fresh and unusual, to add interest to this routine life.\u00a0 Why do you think he uses the French word, \u201cceinture\u201d?\u00a0 What is unusual about … Continue reading Disillusionment of Ten O\u2019Clock<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[32,31,57,58],"class_list":["post-241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wallace-stevens","tag-poem","tag-poetry","tag-satire","tag-social-commentary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hartfordlit.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hartfordlit.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hartfordlit.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hartfordlit.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hartfordlit.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hartfordlit.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hartfordlit.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hartfordlit.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hartfordlit.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}