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abstract poem
abstract poem, a term coined by Edith Sitwell to describe a poem in which the words are chosen for their aural quality rather than specifically for their sense or meaning. An example from âPopular Songâ in Sitwellâs Façade (1923) follows:
The red retriever-haired satyr
Can whine and tease her and flatter,
But Lily OâGrady,
Silly and shady,
In the deep shade is a lazy lady;
Now Pompeyâs dead, Homerâs read,
Heliogabalus lost his head,
And shade is on the brightest wing,
And dust forbids the bird to sing.

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