Both Uses of
poise
in
The Age of Innocence
- A flight of smooth double chins led down to the dizzy depths of a still-snowy bosom veiled in snowy muslins that were held in place by a miniature portrait of the late Mr. Mingott; and around and below, wave after wave of black silk surged away over the edges of a capacious armchair, with two tiny white hands poised like gulls on the surface of the billows.†
Chpt 4
- The ring was on her hand, the Bishop's benediction had been given, the bridesmaids were a-poise to resume their place in the procession, and the organ was showing preliminary symptoms of breaking out into the Mendelssohn March, without which no newly-wedded couple had ever emerged upon New York.†
Chpt 19 *
Definition:
-
(poise) calm and in control -- as in "shows poise under pressure"
and/or:
prepared for action -- as in "poised for action" -- (sometimes suspended or hovering as in "a finger poised over the mute button")
and/or:
confident and graceful in movement -- as in "the poise and balance of a dancer"