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.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 01, 2023

38 sec read
449

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABC XDD AED BXE XXCA
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 727
Words 127
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 3, 3, 3, 3, 4

Walt Whitman

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

All Walt Whitman poems | Walt Whitman Books

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