Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
- With another "Allons!" the speaker is telling us to wake up and get out of the house—whether we built it ourselves or not.
- Don't try to protest, now. Our speaker wants us out of the dark. He claims to know everything—and expose it. Man, this guy sure has a strong self-image.
- The speaker sees something bad in "you," something "as bad as the rest" (199).
- Is he talking to you? Well… do you feel suddenly guilty?
- Through people's laughter and dancing and eating, inside dresses and in washed and groomed faces, our speaker sees "a secret silent loathing and despair" (202). Things seem to have taken a dark turn.
- There is no husband, wife, or anyone to hear the confession, claims the speaker.
- He says that everyone has another self, hiding and sneaking around city streets.
- This self has no form and doesn't speak, but apparently it's also "polite and bland" when either out in public—like in a railroad car or on a steamboat—or at home (205). This other self sounds pretty dry and dull.
- Sure, it might dress fancy and smile pretty, but the other self is described by the speaker as "death under the breast-bones, hell under the skull-bones" (208)—not good.
- Under all the fancy appearances and customary behavior, this other self never talks about… itself.