After great pain, a formal feeling comes

The stanzas give the poem an organized look. Stanza 1 and 2 have four lines (a quatrain) and Stanza 3 has five lines (a quintain). Like the “formal feeling” (Line 1) and “Quartz contentment” (Line 9), the stanzas are dignified and contained. Meanwhile, the uneven line lengths link to alienation. The person in pain takes on several identities, and, likewise, the lines feature an array of lengths. The four lines in Stanza 1 and the last two lines in Stanza 3 are about the same length. Yet all of the lines in Stanza 5, and the first two lines in Stanza 3, are noticeably shorter. Within the clipped group of lines, there are even shorter lines, with three words in Line 6 and two words in Line 7. The curtailed lines reflect the sharp stoicism of “Quartz” or “a stone” (Line 9), while the longer lines allude to the “ceremonious […] Tombs” or “Nerves” (Line 2). As with the Nerves and Tombs, the longer lines are, due to the nature of their length, ornate.

The meter relates to the varying line lengths, Lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 12, and 13 use iambic pentameter, so they contain five pairs of unstressed, stressed syllables (iambs).