Analysis of On Old Man's Thought Of School
Walt Whitman 1819 (West Hills) – 1892 (Camden)
AN old man's thought of School;
An old man, gathering youthful memories and blooms, that youth itself
cannot.
Now only do I know you!
O fair auroral skies! O morning dew upon the grass!
And these I see--these sparkling eyes,
These stores of mystic meaning--these young lives,
Building, equipping, like a fleet of ships--immortal ships!
Soon to sail out over the measureless seas,
On the Soul's voyage.
Only a lot of boys and girls? 10
Only the tiresome spelling, writing, ciphering classes?
Only a Public School?
Ah more--infinitely more;
(As George Fox rais'd his warning cry, "Is it this pile of brick and
mortar--these dead floors, windows, rails--you call the church?
Why this is not the church at all--the Church is living, ever living
Souls.")
And you, America,
Cast you the real reckoning for your present?
The lights and shadows of your future--good or evil?
To girlhood, boyhood look--the Teacher and the School.
Scheme | AXX XX XXXXX XXA XXXXX XXXA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111111 11110010100011101 10 1101111 11010111010101 01111101 1111010111 10010101110101 111110011 10110 10011101 1001001010110 100101 1110001 111111011111110 101111011101 11110111011101010 1 010100 11011001110 010111101110 1111010001 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,026 |
Words | 156 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 2, 5, 3, 5, 4 |
Lines Amount | 22 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 119 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 32 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 47 sec read
- 135 Views
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