Analysis of Darest Thou Now, O Soul

Walt Whitman 1819 (West Hills) – 1892 (Camden)




   DAREST thou now, O Soul,
   Walk out with me toward the Unknown Region,
   Where neither ground is for the feet, nor any path to follow?

No map, there, nor guide,
   Nor voice sounding, nor touch of human hand,
   Nor face with blooming flesh, nor lips, nor eyes, are in that land.

I know it not, O Soul;
   Nor dost thou--all is a blank before us;
   All waits, undream'd of, in that region--that inaccessible land.

Till, when the ties loosen, 10
   All but the ties eternal, Time and Space,
   Nor darkness, gravitation, sense, nor any bounds, bound us.

Then we burst forth--we float,
   In Time and Space, O Soul--prepared for them;
   Equal, equipt at last--(O joy! O fruit of all!) them to fulfil, O
         Soul.


Scheme ABC XDD AED BXE XXCA
Poetic Form
Metre 11111 11110100110 110111011101110 11111 1110111101 11110111111011 111111 1111101011 110110110101001 110110 1101010101 1100101110111 111111 0101110111 101111111111111 1
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 727
Words 127
Sentences 8
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 3, 3, 3, 3, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 101
Words per stanza (avg) 25
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 01, 2023

38 sec read
487

Walt Whitman

Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. more…

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