{
 "id": "william-carlos-williams/to-a-solitary-disciple",
 "title": "To a Solitary Disciple",
 "poet": "William Carlos Williams",
 "poet_slug": "william-carlos-williams",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Al Que Quiere! A Book of Poems",
 "book_slug": "al-que-quiere",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 43,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1917,
  "venue": "Al Que Quiere! A Book of Poems (1917)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51997"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/william-carlos-williams_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31878",
   "https://archive.org/details/temperscarlos00willrich",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51997",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006060238",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35667",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007676947"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-12"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 42,
  "n_stanzas": 7,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 29,
  "max_indent": 0
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 "site_ready": true,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Rather notice, mon cher,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "that the moon is",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "tilted above",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the point of the steeple",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "than that its color",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "is shell-pink.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Rather observe",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "that it is early morning",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "than that the sky",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "is smooth",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "as a turquoise.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Rather grasp",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "how the dark",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "converging lines",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of the steeple",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "meet at the pinnacle⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "perceive how",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "its little ornament",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "tries to stop them⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "See how it fails!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "See how the converging lines",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of the hexagonal spire",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "escape upward⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "receding, dividing!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "—sepals",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "that guard and contain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the flower!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Observe",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "how motionless",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the eaten moon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "lies in the protecting lines.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "It is true:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in the light colors",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of morning",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "brown-stone and slate",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "shine orange and dark blue.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But observe",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the oppressive weight",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of the squat edifice!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Observe",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the jasmine lightness",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of the moon.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}