the dance of the macabre mice
...ely interrupted by the actions or intentions of the mice: “We go round and round, beautiful surprise” and “ The horse is covered with mice.” (2, 3,4,5). Alliteration is used in lines 2 and 3 “beautiful/beautiful, round and round” alluding to the “beautiful surprise” the mice have in store for the statue (2-3). Stanza two describes the dance of the macabre mice, dancing out “to the tip of Monsieur’s sword” (7). “The dance has no name” just like the mice, possibly signifying the unity of the mice in the face of the statue. The dance is also a “hungry dance” suggesting that the mice are literally hungry, or symbolically hungry to have an identity or to override the idolatry of the statue (6). Stanza two also foreshadows the inscription written on the base of the statue. The “lordly language of the inscription, Which is like zithers and tambourines combined:” suggests that the man in the statue is held in the highest regard of the people in “the land of turkeys” (8,9,1). The fact that the nameless mice are dancing on and around the statue implies direct defiance to the man, his ideals, and perhaps the state. The mice, being hungry and anonymous, are the exact opposite of the statue which is made in human likeness, motionless, and worshiped. This idea clearly identifies the differences between the statue and the mice, and perhaps serves as the motivation for the low class mice to revolt against the upper class man in the statue. Stanza three begins by identifying the statue as “the founder of the state,” cluing the reader into the motives of the mice (10). Perhaps the mice, presumably evil, are revolting against the leader of the state, presumably good, because he has tried to exile the mice from the “land of turkeys” (1). Line 11 sarcastically answers this question, suggesting that the founder of the state was unsuccessful in “founding a state that was free from mice” despite the elaborate inscription and bronze statue mentioned in lines 12 and 13 (11). The “tinted and towering tableau” (more alliteration) suggests a glorious moment in time: “What a beautiful history” where the leader triumphed over evil, or possibly the mice (12,3). Line 13: “The arm of bronze outstretched against all evil!” associate...