Analysis of Song For All Seas, All Ships
Walt Whitman 1819 (West Hills) – 1892 (Camden)
TO-DAY a rude brief recitative,
Of ships sailing the Seas, each with its special flag or ship-signal;
Of unnamed heroes in the ships--Of waves spreading and spreading, far
as the eye can reach;
Of dashing spray, and the winds piping and blowing;
And out of these a chant, for the sailors of all nations,
Fitful, like a surge.
Of Sea-Captains young or old, and the Mates--and of all intrepid
Sailors;
Of the few, very choice, taciturn, whom fate can never surprise, nor
death dismay,
Pick'd sparingly, without noise, by thee, old Ocean--chosen by
thee, 10
Thou Sea, that pickest and cullest the race, in Time, and unitest
Nations!
Suckled by thee, old husky Nurse--embodying thee!
Indomitable, untamed as thee.
(Ever the heroes, on water or on land, by ones or twos appearing,
Ever the stock preserv'd, and never lost, though rare--enough for
seed preserv'd.)
Flaunt out O Sea, your separate flags of nations!
Flaunt out, visible as ever, the various ship-signals!
But do you reserve especially for yourself, and for the soul of man,
one flag above all the rest,
A spiritual woven Signal, for all nations, emblem of man elate above
death, 20
Token of all brave captains, and all intrepid sailors and mates,
And all that went down doing their duty;
Reminiscent of them--twined from all intrepid captains, young or old;
A pennant universal, subtly waving, all time, o'er all brave sailors,
All seas, all ships.
Scheme | AXXXBCX DEFXXGDCGG BFX CXXXAXXGXEX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110111 1110011111011110 1011000111100101 10111 110100110010 01110110101110 10101 1110111001011010 10 1011011011110011 101 110001111110101 1 111101010101 10 111110101001 01000111 100101101111111010 100101010111011 101 11111101110 111001100100110 11101010101010111 1101101 010001010111010110101 1 1011110010101001 0111110110 0101111101010111 0100101001011101110 1111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,635 |
Words | 241 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 10, 3, 11 |
Lines Amount | 31 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 273 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 87 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 28, 2023
- 1:13 min read
- 186 Views
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"Song For All Seas, All Ships" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/38141/song-for-all-seas%2C-all-ships>.
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