We have not been dancing.
-- Speaker (Lines 1, 12)

Importance: This opening line acts as a refrain throughout the poem, used in direct repetition twice and then modified at the very end. It also acts as a thematic statement, and establishes the voice: the speaker is acting in response to an external accusation. From this point, the speaker goes on to offer a series of contrary statements illustrating what exactly the central “we” has been doing.

Silver leaves, / Sparkling seas, / Swaying diamond-dappled trees
-- Speaker (Lines 5-7)

Importance: This series of lines is among the most metrically regular in the poem, and it uses a true AAA rhyme scheme (with arguably a near-rhyme in “leaves”). The meter follows a strict trochaic rhythm of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. Additionally, it incorporates alliteration, assonance, and consonance to enhance the fluidity of this rhythm.

We build, we birth
-- Speaker (Line 24)

Importance: This line uses parallelism in the arrangement of syllables, the repeating...